Fresh Cup Magazine, providing specialty coffee and tea professionals with unique insight into the trends, ideas, products and people that shape their world.
Issue link: http://freshcup.epubxp.com/i/95647
LQ \RXU VKRS GREEN TEA By Kevin Gascoyne, Francois Marchand, Jasmin Desharnais and Hugo Americi $24.95 (Available in French, English version to be released in 2013) The four owners of Montreal's Camellia Sinensis Tea House last year put out "Tea: History, Terroirs, Varieties," which provided a wide-ranging and detailed look at the entire tea spectrum. Now, they're narrowing their focus with a book that looks solely at the green incarnation of their beloved beverage. The heart of the work is taste and pro- cessing analysis of 25 separate green teas, but the authors also discuss the individuals behind some of the world's best greens as well as the teaware specially created for this tea type (if you doubt whether different vessels and devices can really affect a tea, flip to Jane Pettigrew's take on the topic on page 48 of this issue). Green tea might not always fascinate taste professionals in the same way oolongs and complex black offerings do, but thanks to health study after health study raising the standing of green tea in consumer circles, the time seems right to break down the drink from a deeper taste perspective. This book does just that. VINTAGE TEA PARTY By Carolyn Caldicott, photographs by Chris Caldicott Frances Lincoln Limited, $14.95 The Caldicotts, who own London's World Food Café, clearly crafted this book with the Mason jar and chicken-coop set in mind. Not a bad move. For a wide swath of 20- and 30-somethings, it's the seemingly forgotten-about elements of life that hold appeal, and tea parties fit right into the ethic. "Forgo the stress of a dinner party and instead gather at home with friends for a chat and relaxed afternoons," Caldicott writes early on. In the pages that follow, the Caldicott duo offers a fun and recipe-heavy guide to making such get-togethers a DIY success. Along the way, they sprinkle in info on how the tea party tradition began (a hungry duchess wanted a snack in 1840) as well as the basics on different tea types, origins and pairing ideas. Recently released (and soon-to-come) tea titles ~ by Dan Leif TEA AT FORTNUM & MASON Recipes by Emma Marsden Trafalgar Square Publishing, $16 This simple, accessible guide to tea basics and traditional teatime foods was produced by Fortnum & Mason, a London gourmet-food shop that since the early 18th century has been providing Brits with well-sourced loose leaf. The Fortnum & Mason brand is undoubtedly tied to the traditional image of tea—think "Royal" blends and jam bis- cuits—but the nostalgia-laced text the company has put together is worth a perusal if just to better connect with tea's European retail history. Clipper ships and silver teapots may have little to do with the day-to-day reality of your café or business, but the early days of tea drinking in industrial society live on as modern shops aim to bring a touch of ritual and flavor differentiation into a world that's always on the go. Fresh Cup Magazine 23