Tea by Kevin Gascoyne

Tea by Kevin Gascoyne,
François Marchand,
Jasmin Desharnais,
Hugo Americi,
Jonathan Racine

ISBN-13: 9780593197882
Paperback: 271 pages
Publisher: Firefly Books
Released: November 3rd 2011

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Tea is a comprehensive guide to non-herbal tea, the plant Camellia sinensis. Concise and authoritative text and an abundance of color photographs take the reader on an escorted tour of the world's tea-growing countries: China, Japan, Taiwan, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Vietnam and East Africa. Like a fine wine, it is the "terroir" -- a region's soil and climate -- that imparts unique characteristics to a tea. The book covers black, green, white, yellow, oolong, pu'er, perfumed, aromatic and smoked teas.

Topics include an overview of the history of tea, tea varieties, the worldwide export of tea, how tea is processed, signature tea cultivars, the art of making, serving and tasting tea, including tea ceremonies, and tea in cooking with 15 recipes. Also, a set of detailed charts, tables and graphs shows the caffeine, antioxidant and other biochemical properties of 35 teas.


My Review:
Tea provides a detailed look at the history and present state of tea in China, Japan, Taiwan, India (and, briefly, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Vietnam and East Africa). The book started by providing an overview of the history of tea and information about the different tea types: black, green, white, yellow, oolong, pu'er, perfumed, aromatic, and smoked teas. The authors then focused on specific countries and talked about where the tea is grow, how the weather affects the tea taste, the tea types that they grow there, if the tea is primarily for domestic use or export, and details about how they process the tea and about local tea drinking ceremonies. They ended with 15 recipes that use tea and some scientific analysis about what levels of caffeine and antioxidants are in various teas and how different preparation methods (steeping times, multiple infussions, etc.) affect the amounts of caffeine and antioxidant in each cup of tea. If you really like your tea and want to learn the details, this book has a lot for detailed information.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.