Others say...

"the wonders of tea!!!"
Jane combines information from many different countries. She describes the processing of tea in detail. Before and after a tea tasting, I will refer to this book.

"A Nod to Tea"
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.

"Not much in depth information. Lacking real research and knowledge."
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.

"Quite happy."
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.


"Let's have a cuppa!"
The perfect tea primer. Lavishly illustrated and skillfully organized, The Tea Companion is an excellent introduction for anyone seeking to learn about the many varieties and flavors of this healthful beverage. If Foodies only purchase one book on tea for their library, it should be this one. Not only will you be educated as to the cultivation and culture of thea sinensis, you will understand correct brewing techniques and food pairings for black, green, oolong, rooibos, and beyond. Bon appetit!