The Book of Tea

Except for water, tea is the world's no. 1 beverage. This luxurious volume shows tea in most of its many manifestations, from field to processing farm to fermentation. Photography is wonderful, essays literate and evocative if not necessarily the most informative (the final chapter, which details grades and descriptions of brewed tea, is actually a little disappointing). Still, this volume is well worth having if only because the color photography is so darn beautiful, taking in tea plantations, tea services and of course, tea sippers. Bargains in the French Flammarion version are not hard to find. Recommended.

This is a jumbo-sized version of the little Flammarion books on tea. It has all the colorful photos, just in larger size, and the story goes into more detail. It's still a light read but goes in-depth enough to give more than just the bite you get from the comparable pocket-sized books on tea. I like to judge a tea book by what it says about Puerh, and disappointingly, this one doesn't seem to say anything. It's not in the index or in the glossary. But it's still a good read, just not the exhaustive resource some other tea books are meant to be.

Saw this book on the counter of a wonderful new tea shop in Boston, and stayed for two hours reading. The comprehensive coverage of tea, history, ritual, and legacy is just terrific. The text is only surpassed by the well chosen photos, paintings and images. Flammarion needs to bring back this extraordinary tribute to tea!

This isn't a review in the strict sense of the word, I would just like to say that if there is any way to nag Flammarion until they reprint it, I'm in it. I would LOVE to own it, now I have to check it out from the library...

a pity that this book runned out of stock. a must for every publisher to keep freshly onPress