Customer Reviews

The New Tea Companion

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a good basic review of the different types of tea with high-quality color pictures of the tea, the tea leaves dry and the tea leaves wet. The book also briefly covers the production areas, the culture of different tea ceremonies, the business of tea production and processing techniques of the different types of tea. Highly recommended.

'The New Tea Companion' turns out to be a useful and informative little handbook, not exhaustive, but certainly helpful. After a section decribing the various available teas, a brief history and a walk-through guide to modern production, the authors share with us their thoughts on specific teas from each tea-producing nation and region. These descriptions and recommendations can be ever so helpful in choosing the next sort of tea to explore. Each entry provides photos of dry leaf, wet leaf and cupped tea. It is sad, however, that the editors or printers did not catch the world map printed backwards on page 90.

Granted that this book has serious flaws in editing, it is still provides some of the most extensive, illustrated listings of teas from around the world.

The Companion does an extensive job of introducing teas by country. What you see are photos of the dry leaf, wet leaf, and liquor of top teas from tea countries like India, China, and Sri Lanka. In addition, you will broaden your knowledge by being introduced to the catalogue of teas from promising areas like Thailand, Vietnam, and Bolivia.

If you were to get this book (which I am not necessarily endorsing), I would read it beside a book like Harney & Son's Guide to Tea. The two books work together well to create a more complete book on tea tasting and appreciation.

"The New Tea Companion" is one of the most poorly edited books I've ever read, filled with misinformation and graphic errors. Content errors are found on pages 8, 40, 43, 107, 159-161,and 219. Graphic errors are visibly evident on pages 90, 92-93, 123, 134, 150-151, 159, 176, and 224. On page 8, the ancient Chinese Han Dynasty is shown to have lasted only 14 years, when in fact it lasted over 400 years (from 202BC to 220AD)! Pages 40 and 43 mention "fermentation" regarding both yellow and oolong teas, whereas fermentation is only associated with Puerh tea. On page 107, Huang Shan Mao Feng is incorrectly listed as a yellow tea, when in fact it is one of the famous green teas from the Chinese Yellow Mountains. On page 90, the world map is printed backwards (as noted in another Amazon review).

Perhaps most disheartening are all the graphic errors showing the different teas in their dry, wet, and brewed states. If not for these mistakes, the book could have stood out as a wonderful illustrative example, as most other tea books fail to show these differences. Unfortunately, the multiple errors make one question the validity of other information that may indeed be correct. For example, on pages 92-93, photos of Organic Golden Tippy Black "wet" and Organic Large Leaf "wet" are the same, while on pages 150-151, the cup of Kolkhuri Extra and the cup of Kolkhuri Artisan are the same - so which is right and which is wrong? On page 159, photos of Goomtee "dry" and Goomtee "wet" are the same. On page 176, the photo of dry Houjicha (a roasted Japanese green tea consisting of leaves and twigs) shows the presence of corn and rice (like that of a Genmaicha). On page 224, the UK's Tregothnan Classic "dry" shows a photo of a brewed cup of Tregothnan Green tea.

Finally, the descriptions of tea "character" are overly vague when compared with descriptions in other tea books. Moreover, their descriptions on pages 159-161, mention "muscatel" character for both First Flush and Autumnal Darjeelings, with no mention of "muscatel" for the Second Flush, whereas more reputable tea books use the "muscatel" descriptor solely for Second Flush Darjeelings.

As such, this book should be taken out of print until the numerous errors are corrected. A second (corrected) edition of this book would actually be quite nice, but the original edition should be avoided at all costs, especially by the novice tea connoisseur who may be misled by all the misinformation.

I was expecting more a travel essay having snagged my copy via library request (yeah, I wanted to check it out first before forking over dough on amazon). Although it's not really a travel essay at all, it is a brilliant fact-filled and fun book on the origins of tea. If you drink tea at all, this is a must buy. It just has so much in here that you'll learn something you did not know pretty much on every page. Great research and easy breezy read. Wonderful pics, layout, book size and glossy pages. First class all around. Well worth the $ now I know.

I had the pleasure of hearing Jane speak of the social history of British tea, and drink Bruce's Elmwood Inn Tea, so I know they are both knowledgeable. Their autographs on my book "Ever the student of tea" (Bruce), and "Happy Tea Times" (Jane) reflects their philosophy that comes through in this book. There is much to learn of tea .. and this book does a great job of introducing both the history of tea by country, and the production methods that make white, green, oolong, black, and Puerh tea. The body of the book is a directory by county of tea varieties. Each tea includes a paragraph on "Character" "Brewing Tips", and a picture of a cupped tea along with the dry and wet leaves. My only complaint is that the introductory map does not include the names included in the section, for example Fujian province in China is mentioned as production area but not shown on the map. The description of character may take some experience to appreciate such as "raisin-sweet", "earth aroma", "Lingering taste of peach", or "hint of astringency", but now that I have tried some of them, they do help to put a name on what your tasting. This book will guide my tasting for years to come!