The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea [Bargain Price] [Hardcover]

Michael Harney (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2, 2008

The country’s leading connoisseur presents a comprehensive guide for developing your tea palate.

The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea transforms tea drinkers into tea experts. Written by one of the country’s leading tea professionals, The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea is an illuminating resource for tea drinkers interested in developing and refining their palate as well as their understanding of the complex agricultural, historical, and cultural significance of tea.

Drawing on his singular experience, Michael Harney masterly explores the full range of teas, revealing how each tea is distinctive, with a taste that derives from a precise combination of cultivation and production techniques, and influenced by the geography as well as its history. These lively profiles of diverse tea varieties—from delicate white tea to aged black puerh tea—include brewing instructions and vivid descriptions of the beverage scent, taste, and appearance; everything you need to become a connoisseur.

Tea has long been popular in the United States, but only recently have Americans treated this nuanced beverage with a deeper curiosity, more refined approach, and wider appetite. The Wall Street Journal reports that total U.S. tea sales are nearly four times what they were in 1990, and this growing population of discriminate consumers will celebrate the new vocabulary provided in The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea.

Unique in scope, candor, and accessibility, The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea will quickly become the classic reference and staple in the library of every serious tea drinker.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Ever since the Boston Tea Party, Americans have never exhibited the same passion for tea that so many others in the world cultivate. Much of the tea consumed here is iced tea. Harney sets out to change American minds and educate their palates. Writing in language typically reserved for wine, Harney describes the distinctive tastes, colors, and mouthfeel of teas from each of the major groups: white, green, oolong, yellow, and black. He divides the green teas into Chinese and Japanese, and the black into Chinese and “British legacy,” a catchall term for teas from India and other remnants of the British Empire. He also recommends proper brewing temperatures and the appropriate brewing time for each tea variety. Harney’s comprehensive analyses of the differences among teas make this a noteworthy book for tea drinkers and a worthwhile reference tool for librarians. --Mark Knoblauch

About the Author

Michael Harney has been the tea buyer and blender of Harney & Sons for twenty years. He travels to Asia and meets with tea producers from all the major tea countries looking for the season’s best teas. He graduated from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The (October 2, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1594201382
• ASIN: B0028N72K8
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 7.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,296,434 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Destined to be a Classic, February 12, 2009

By 

Ralph White (New England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea (Hardcover)

Michael Harney's new book is exceptionally attractive and will make a fine gift for any occasion. But the stunning beauty of this book is far from skin deep. It's clear that Michael Harney approached this project the way he, his Father, John, and his brother, Paul, approach tea making itself. He clearly wanted the book itself to be elegant, but he also required that it illustrate the dimensionality and substance for which his teas are known.

Let me recommend a creative approach to this book. Start with the Appendix, From Tree to Tea, The Chemistry of Tea. How, otherwise, will you know what tea even is? Then treat yourself to a very succinct, five page, History of Tea. Okay, now flip back to the front and read the Introduction. Here Harney tells what led him to the business and what led him to write the book. You come away assured that his credentials are exactly what you wanted in a guide to teas. Michael Harney is a tea person's tea person, the ideal personal trainer for teas.

The Guide to Tasting Teas is an eye opener. Who knew that there was something to be learned from examining the dry leaves? Who knew pot type affected a tea's taste? Who knew about filtered water, and the impact of brewing temperatures, and brewing times? Who knew what to look for in the liquor? Who knew what intelligence there was to gain from smelling the wet tea leaves after pouring the liquor off? And who even thought that there could be a vocabulary dealing with the nuances of a tea's body and flavor? In fact you'll know all of this before you get to page 17, which is where your tour of the tea world will begin.

Start with a tea with which you feel familiar, say a Ceylon Black Tea. In this section you will find that there are three categories of tea, depending on the elevation of the tea gardens. You will learn that "The high grown teas, between four thousand and six thousand feet are what make Ceylon Teas' reputation. That rarefied air produces exceptional teas like the wintergreen Uva Highlands." Imagine! You learned something so basic about a tea you thought you already knew; imagine what you'll learn about teas with which you are completely unfamiliar.

In time we'll wonder how we limped along in the tea world before Michael Harney wrote this classic.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Down-to-Earth "How-To" Guide to Great Tea, January 16, 2009

By 

Janice (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea (Hardcover)

I have a soft spot in my heart for Harney & Sons because I learned to love tea by visiting their tea tasting room in Millerton, NY. This book is the perfect follow-up to that experience. Most of the book is devoted to tea tasting, and is designed to walk the reader through the process of preparing and drinking a series of related teas. The differences and similarities are described, which I find helps me focus on the subtleties of these special teas and heightens my enjoyment of them.

This book can pay for itself by helping you avoid buying expensive tea that you don't enjoy. Mr. Harney recommends other tea suppliers, in addition to his family business, several of which (including Harney's,) offer samples or small quantities for sale. It's a great guide to purchasing and experiencing samples, so that you only buy larger quantitities of the teas you most enjoy.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A book for nearly all the senses, February 14, 2009

By 

S. Hoyt-McBeth (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea (Hardcover)

I cannot do it the same justice as the first two reviewers, but I am in the middle of reading this thoroughly enjoyable book and the quality of writing, command of the subject, and passion for the product compelled me to comment.

This is a lovely book. I think Ralph White's suggested reading sequence is a good one. My only wish is that the publishers and/or Mr. Harney had included photos of all the teas.

Bravo Michael Harney!