Tea: History, Terroirs, Varieties

Tea: History, Terroirs, Varieties (Second Edition) by Kevin Gascoyne, Francois Marchand, and Jasmin Desharnais is great book on tea because it thoroughly provides an overview of tea’s history, different varieties, growing and harvesting process, fascinating ceremonies, local methods of preparation, tasting notes, and infusion accessories. A lot is covered in this book on all of the topics a beginner, or even a more experienced tea drinker, would be interested in.But the really special part of this book is the massive collection of photos. Nearly every page contains one or more images from around the world and really brings the topic of diversity and complexity of the tea industry to life. If you’re new to tea, you’ll be amazed by how many different colors of tea there are. The book also explores the world’s top tea-growing countries to explain the common characteristics of that nation’s tea. Examples of countries covered in the book are Japan, Taiwan, China, Sri Lanka, India, Vietnam, and Nepal, and the region of East Africa.After reading this book, you’ll learn how climate and soil influence’s a tea’s characteristics. Terroirs is the lingo used to refer to these factors. You’ll also learn about the different tea families, grades, cultivars, and varieties. The section on tea’s history includes a timeline for easy reference. This book is a well-rounded, thorough book on tea that even includes interviews with industry leaders and 15 gourmet recipes that use tea as an ingredient.This review was originally written for 27Press.com.

I really love this book. It is the rare book that compels with excellent writing, beautiful layout and photography, and in-depth knowledge. There is coverage of the history of tea, its manufacturing, health benefits, and the range of tastes. I discovered it while doing a tasting event at a local store, and, after being impressed with the clerks knowledge of all the teas, learned that this is the book their employees study and reference. I especially like the sections on each tea-growing region and feel like I know much better how to choose teas I will like based on type and where they are grown.It probably goes too far with its recipe section on tea-infused foods. That seemed tangential to me and arguably a distraction for the authors. Regardless, this book sits on my quick-reference shelf, and I find myself opening it again and again.

This is one of the few times where a book or movie turns out to be much better than what I expected. It has a good amount of detail but remains a very easy read. You can also turn to any page and read. It isn't necessary to read from front to back. It covers history, and production methods of major producers as well as info about caffeine levels of various teas and health effects.

I bought this book largely because I wanted to know what the heck a terroir is...No, that's not quite right. I bought this book because I've been drinking gallons of tea every week for years without a real appreciation for its history, cultivation or production. I'd tried quite a wide variety of teas, all loose leaf of course, without taking any tasting notes, and while I had a vague idea of what I preferred and the differences between different varieties of teas I certainly couldn't talk at length about things like the degree of oxidization oolongs are subjected to. Instead of picking up knowledge bit by bit I wanted to really sit down and learn about it. This book takes you on quite a tour -- through the history of tea along with detailed sections on China, Japan, Taiwan & India and shorter sections on other tea-producing regions, following up with a guide to preparation and some recipes.It's also a beautiful book, peppered with gorgeous pictures of every step of tea production and interviews, and well worth the money.

I bought this book because I was interested in learning more about tea. I wanted to better understand how tea was produced, the differences among different types of tea, and what makes good tea good. This book mostly satisfied these interests. _Tea_ reviewed production methods for each type of tea as produced by each major tea producing country, especially China, Japan, India, and Taiwan. The sections on China and Japan were excellent. _Tea_ stepped through key tea producing regions for each country, describing what tea was produced and how, tea culture, and sometimes how the climate affected the tea. Some history of tea cultivation was given for each country.This book fell a little short in explaining what made good teas good. _Tea_ briefly reviewed the CTC method of production, greatly emphasized orthodox methods, and associated CTC processing with lower quality teas. I guessed that the particle size due to CTC processing lead to faster leaching of bitter components, which would not be extracted from whole leaves under similar steeping conditions. I guessed that CTC was also associated with machine harvesting, which impacted tea quality. However, _Tea_ did not directly corroborate these guesses.This book contained some pleasant content beyond my primary interests. The preface was written by Francois Chartier, Sommelier. _Tea_ contains lots of great tidbits from a tasting perspective.(1) Tasting notes for notable teas from each terroir.(2) A guide to tasting tea with good instructions, tips, visual aids, and a taste wheel.(3) Tea preparation tips, including advice on tea pots (e.g. material of construction, Yixing teapots, kyusu teapots), infusion temperature and time, and different techniques of preparing tea (e.g. gaiwan, matcha with bamboo whisk)._Tea_ included a chapter on cooking with tea. Most of the recipes were desserts, two were meats. The food photography in this section was excellent. However, the only recipe I can see myself making is the one for Chai Tea._Tea_ included a chapter on “Tea and Health” which included original data on caffeine and antioxidant contents of different teas, and on how steeping procedure affected their concentration. This book did not review medical research on the catechins in tea within oncology._Additional Pluses_+ The pictures throughout this book were excellent.+ Some figures were reported on tea production, consumption, and exports for each country.+ The chapters on China and Japan were excellent. I did not know about yellow tea, or the two types of Pu-erh tea until reading the chapter on China. I did not know about the practice of shade growing until I learned about Gyokuro tea in the chapter on Japan._Additional Minuses_- The binding for my copy of this book was substandard. By the time I neared the end of a single reading, the binding was already falling apart, see attached figures.- Some of the science is factually incorrect. For example, the structure for (-)-Catechin on p. 263 showed a cyclohexane ring where an aromatic ring should be. Concentrations were often reported in mg, which is wrong. Sometimes, units were not given at all (Table 12). Sometimes, incorrect units were given -- Graph 2 claims an ORAC value of ~1250 moles per cup for Anji Bai Cha green tea (it is probably micro-moles per cup).- You will likely find minor typographical errors.