Customer Reviews

The Tea Companion (Connoisseur's Guides)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

As mentioned, there are a lot of books on tea. The trick is finding one that's practical and useful. What makes this special is 1) extra detail about brewing time, temperature, amount 2) clear color photos of the dry and brewed tea and tea leaves 3) clear organization that helps you understand teas by country and variety. I've browsed through lots of books and of the ones I've seen, this is the best. Think of it as a first rate primer (beginner and intermediate level), not a text book, but five stars for what it tries to do.

This interesting book serves as a guide and history book to the world's favorite drink, made from the plant Thea Sinensis. The book reveals the huge variety of teas available and encourages the reader to try some of the world's most exquisite teas. It deals with the discovery of tea (according to legend, by the Chinese Emperor Shen Nung), advice on where to buy it, storage hints and how to make the perfect cup. It also includes a discussion of the origin and spread of the word "tea" plus a Grading Terminology and the Tea Taster's vocabulary. Part One, The Story Of Tea, contains the chapters The History Of Tea, Production of Tea, Tea Equipage and Tea Appreciation. Part Two is titled Global Tea Directory and includes a Guide to the Teas of the World, followed by chapters on Africa, the Indian Subcontinent, the Far East and Other Tea-producing Countries. The book concludes with the section Addresses of Mail-order Tea Companies and a thorough index. The text is beautifully illustrated with photographs, reproductions of art, portraits and maps. Tastefully designed, well written and informative, The Tea Companion must be the ultimate book on this popular beverage. I strongly recommend it.

A good overview on the various types of tea, and in general, everything a beginner would want to know about tea. This is a book where you will find accurate, up-to-date information on tea, its properties and health benefits. Unlike many other books that were written more for pleasure reading (poetry, myths and stories about tea from the east), this is a book that gives a good foundation for someone who's serious about the appreciation and benefits of tea. I highly recommend it!

If you do not collect books on tea; if you wish to know about tea but not spend your life in that pursuit; if you want a reference guide to tea; if you ONLY want to own one book about tea - this is that ONE book that gives you the most information in the least amount of pages.

I've always been an aficionada of tea, however, I knew very little about it's history and most importantly I knew little about its many varieties. I bought this book with the hope of learning more about tea and it fulfilled my expectations. This book includes a concise and informative overview on the history of tea, several colorful photographs, brewing suggestions, and an extensive index of the world's tea growing regions. One thing about this book is that it is written from a British perspective of tea drinking. This is not problematic, just an observation. We, Americans, have a different orientation and imagination towards tea. Coffee has long been the drink of choice in the States and for many different social and political reasons. Pettigrew touches on some of the sociocultural themes in her text. I nod to that. The goal of the book is not to persuade people to drink tea anyway. I believe the goal is to reinforce and provide new knowledge about tea. With that said, this book is for people who have some experience and openness to tea drinking. I believe the audience for this is book is akin to people who enjoy wine or vegetarian cooking and want to learn more. Personally, I found this book to be intellectually stimulating and illuminating. I did find some of the drinking suggestions to be limiting. For example, Pettigrew believes sugar spoils the taste of many teas, but she recommends milk. I agree to an extent but there are many teas I enjoy with a teaspoon of sugar. Again, I think these are differences in British and American tastes. I also wanted to know more about the use of lemon or other citrus fruits in tea. In some teas, lemon is complimentary in others it destroys the chemical balance of the tea drinking experience. Recipes for tea blending (with flowers, nuts, fruit, etc.) would have been helpful as well. Enjoy.

The 2008 updated edition is now available with 30 new teas photographed and reviewed. The world of tea information has changed tremendously over the past four years and the 2008 edition is more up-to-date than the 04 and 05 editions.The New Tea Companion

I used this book A LOT to research for my online tea shop. It is full of information and is easy to read. It also has nice, colorful pictures. I especially liked the descriptions and pictures of dozens of different teas from around the world. It helps teach when, why, and how to enjoy tea of all kinds. Plus, it's not too full of unnecessary information to muddle through. Good one!

Pros:

-Well illustrated; color photographs of tea, both loose leaf and prepared cup, tea production around the world, etc.

-Well organized. Covers the history of tea in every country, methods of preparing the tea leaves, a brief history of teapots, caddies, etc. Goes over each tea-producing country in detail (seeing detail on Cameroon tea was very exciting for me because I lived there for four years).

-Book flaps make for an easy bookmark

-Easy to read and understand; keeps my interest

Cons:

-Really, my only complaint is that there is not more information about how to obtain these teas I'm reading about. There is a list of mail-order companies in the back, but half of their websites are no longer in service, and I don't have time to send letters to each of them, asking if they have a certain uncommon tea. There was a specific tea I wanted after reading the book, but I could not find it for sale after searching all over the internet.

This book has some interesting sections, but lacks any depth of information. The section on the history of tea does not discuss the British efforts, and significant problems, in developing tea estates in India in any detail, which is a very interesting story. The information about "fermentation" of black teas is extremely poor. Black teas are oxidized via an enzyme process that I was hoping to learn more about. Reading this book you would think they are adding yeast to "ferment" the tea. The limited sections on Pu-erh teas is inaccurate and incomplete and does not even acknowledge the Pur tea trees that are hundreds of years old in china.

Jane Pettigrew covers just about everything in the tea world in this book, from a little history to a taste of the different kinds of tea from their own regions.

I was a bit disappointed that Puerh tea was not given more attention in the book, but this is also the older version and when it was published there wasn't much availability of Puerh in the US yet.

There are a lot of pretty pictures in this book, and it's this imagery that wins the reader over. I also like how tea from individual estates in places like Assam and Ceylon is described.