Tea Bliss: Infuse Your Life with Health, Wisdom, and Contentment (Paperback)

by Theresa Cheung (Author)
Key Phrases: tea mind, perfect cup, great tea, Earl Grey, Nourishing Blend, Way of Tea (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Tea is all the rage and, according to trendspotter Faith Popcorn, part of a "feel better" experience consumers are now demanding in their purchases. In this stress-filled world, tea offers a simple antidote to just about everything, as author Theresa Cheung posits in her marvelous new book Tea Bliss.

As Cheung--a resident of the UK where everyone knows that tea is better than chicken soup as a cure for mind, body, and soul--points out, the boom in tea is as simple as 1, 2, 3.

1. Tea helps people relax.

2. Tea makes people healthier.

3. Tea makes people happier.

Sit down. Have a cuppa. Not only is it a delightful way to spend a few moments with yourself or a friend, but drinking various kinds of tea can also help you fight cancer, lose weight, and even remain more youthful! "Taking tea" simply demands a break from dull routines and requires you to slow down, savor, and reflect on the world around you as well as the world inside you.

Illustrated throughout with four-color photographs, Tea Bliss is a warmhearted, comforting book that describes the arts of blending and brewing tea as well as the performance of ritual tea ceremonies. Chapters include "Tea for Two" on the positive effect tea has on friendship, and "Well-being" on how invaluable tea can be to an individual's health, as well as a glossary of terms and a veritable encyclopedia of every type of tea. Blending inspiration and sumptuous illustrations with fascinating facts about tea, Tea Bliss is an ideal and relaxing gift.

About the Author
Theresa Cheung writes full time and is the author of twelve self-help and psychology books, including Worry: The Root of All Evil, Men and Depressions: Helping Him, Helping You, and The Lazy Person's Guide to Stress. She's contributed to Red, Prima, and She, and her work has been reviewed in Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly. She lives in the UK.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Conari Press (August 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157324211X
• ISBN-13: 978-1573242110
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #702,217 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Problematic in many ways, May 9, 2009

By	LH422 (Washington, USA) - See all my reviews

Oh, where to begin? Possibly the most important thing to state for potential readers of this book is that this is not a book about tea. Rather, it's a self-help book that's masquerading as a tea book. There's preciously little information about tea in here, but more on that later. The basic premise of the book is that ideas and principles of tea can be used to affect positive change in your life. Each of these principles comprises a chapter (or "nourishing blend" to use the author's lexicon) and is linked with a similar principle that one can apply to one's life. Some of them sort of work, for example, not all tea should be brewed with boiling water is paired with the idea that living in a constant state of stress is toxic. Other of the principles, however, seem to bear little resemblance to the tea principle in question. Make sure each cup you serve has the same taste and temperature doesn't seem to bear a strong resemblance to seeking balance in life. And that particular point leads to one of the larger issues in the book. There are a wealth of inaccuracies and misinformation concerning tea in these pages. In a number of cases the author states things that are wrong or unresearched. Making sure each cup of tea has the same flavor every time? Most frequent drinkers of green and white teas are well aware that these teas stand up to, and indeed are expected, to go through multiple steepings (particularly if brewing with a gaiwan), and the entire point of the multiple steepings is that the flavors change slightly with each. A number of other examples are found in the health benefits of tea chapter. The author refers to rooibos as "the only naturally caffeine-free black tea." Sorry, but no. Rooibos is an entirely different plant. It does not come from the Camiellia Sinesis plant; it is not black tea. Or what about "lemon tea," which the author describes as "mainly sugar with tea solids." Ummmmm, does she mean Nestea? Seriously? In a book about making and enjoying tea? She refers to it as energizing, in a chapter on tea and health no less. At this point I've started to wonder how much of the issue is bad writing, and how much is lack of knowledge. I suspect there's some of both. The author's bio indicates that she has written other self-help books, but there's not much I can praise on the self-help side either. Most of the suggestions are basic, standard, self-help filler (the challenges and disappointments give life texture, seek balance, etc. etc. etc.) In sum, the tea theme is never well-wedded to the self-help content of this book, making it seem contrived at best. The research, factual, and writing problems only add to the more fundamental problems. The one positive thing I can say about this book is that the pictures are beautiful, but beyond that, there is little to recommend here.