Book Reviews
February 20, 2012 | 
Author I read a very informative book recently about the history of tea from a British perspective: “Tea, Addiction, Exploitation and Empire” by Roy Moxham (Carroll & Graf, New York, 2003). This book is full of surprising facts. Did you know, for example, that tea was fashionable in Portugal, Holland, and France before it caught on in England? Or that Sri Lanka is a tea producer because of a fungus that ruined their coffee crops? Or that the history of tea is about as nasty as it got in the British Empire?
The book begins with an account of how Moxham, as a young man, landed a job running a tea plantation in present day Malawi in East Africa, and the book ends with an account of his year there. In between, we go predominantly to China, India, and Sri Lanka as Moxham tells the often gruesome tale of the history of tea in the British Empire. Moxham is not the most colorful of writers, but the book is obviously well researched, and once I’d picked it up, I found it hard to put down. I don’t find that the old block prints, photographs, and drawings add much to the book, but I do like the maps in the front of the book that show tea plantation locations in Malawi, China, and India.
It may come as a bit of a surprise that the violent history of tea in the Empire is still playing itself out, with sporadic strikes and violence continuing 
to this day throughout Sri Lanka and India, especially in Assam. And then there’s the Sri Lankan civil war where the descendents of Tamils imported from India to work the tea plantations still feel discriminated against by the Sinhalese.
Roland at Tea & Treasure
Posted in African Tea, Assam, Book Reviews, Chinese Tea, English Tea, History of Tea, Indian Tea, Sri Lankan Tea | 
Tags: Assam, British Empire, Ceylon, history of tea, history of tea plantations, Tea Book Review | 
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Cha Dao, the way of tea, has been written by Solala Towler and published this year by Singing Dragon. I was sent a complimentary copy of this book specifically for me to review it, and I’m very glad that it transpired this way as this was exactly the book I needed to read at this point in my life.
For me, the first chapter of the book reads like a preacher wrote it, with quotes that begin, “Laozi says” and “Master Wu tells us”. I began to wonder whether the purpose of this little volume may be to convert tea drinkers to Daoism. I’m glad I didn’t skip the first chapter, though, as it spoke of things I definitely needed to be reminded of, such as going slow, naturalness, and the “watercourse way”. (Find out more by reading this book.)
When I got to the third chapter, I knew right away that Mr Towler has a talent for storytelling, and for me this is where the book shines. From meeting tea masters to ritual suicide and outwitting communist guards during the cultural revolution, these tea stories are interesting and sensitively written.
When not writing tea stories, I find that Towler has a penchant for repeating himself. This occurs in the course of a sentence (repeating China in the first line of p45), in a chapter (where the same philosophical point is made more than once), and in the course of the book itself (a quote from Laozi on p22 is repeated on p95). Also, a few things are stated as fact with no references. A couple that I question are where Towler states that green tea is higher in antioxidants than black tea (p143) and that there is less caffeine in green tea (p146). According to The Tea Research Institute of Sri Lanka, green and black tea have approximately the same caffeine content, which makes sense to me, and black tea has even a little more total antioxidant capacity. I think Towler may be biased towards green tea as that’s the tea associated with Dao in China and Zen in Japan.
But the shortcomings in no way overshadow the spirit of the book and one’s ability to enjoy it. The book alternates between philosophy, history, stories, tea ceremonies, and information about tea, such as types, how to brew tea, and the health benefits of tea. In the end, I found it informative and entertaining, but above all, I felt it drawing me into the Cha Dao, a way of life in which a well made and well drunk cup of tea enables one to “bask in the glory of just <em>being</em>.”
Roland Petrov
A lady came into my store today with a small yerba buena plant for me to plant in my tea garden, and she gave me a recipe for an exotic herbal tea from The Book of Herbal Teas
She had a copy of the book with her, and I recognized it as I have a copy of it right here in the store. So this pleasant encounter inspired me to take a closer look at it. It turns out to be over a hundred pages of detailed and useful information on forty popular herbs. It advertizes itself as <em>A Guide to Gathering, Brewing, and Drinking</em>, but actually that’s very modest as it is also a guide to growing, harvesting, health properties, and even more besides.
Not every herb is illustrated, but the book does come with some lovely photography by Christopher Irion.
I learned here, for example, that lemon balm, an herb that is growing in my tea garden, is good for colds, flu, nerves, digestion, blood pressure, acne, and polishing furniture. It can be added to fruit, chicken, green salads, chilled soups, and marinades. It is also an ingredient in the liqueurs Chartreuse and Benedictine. It will also make your bath fragrant.
And so on.
Like I said, really useful information.
Oh, the recipe I was given was one invented by a lady right here in Washington, and these are the ingredients that you brew together in 6 cups of freshly boiled water:
- 10 fresh purple sage leaves,
- 16 fresh lemon balm leaves,
- 12 small mint leaves,
- petals of 1 red rose,
- 2 rose-scented geranium leaves (optional).
This last ingredient reminds me of the evening in San Diego, California, when my brother and I went into peoples gardens to steal geranium leaves for tasting, amazed at how many different flavors of leaves there were.
Roland Petrov
Steeped in the World of Tea
(Arris Books, Gloucestershire, 2005) is a collection of stories about experiences with tea interspersed with poems, tea recipes, and photographs.
There’s a recipe for preparing Moroccan mint tea, a poem about Lapsang Souchong, and a story, called Sumatran Moonlight, that is told during the preparation of East Frisian tea.
And this is just to pique your interest.
The book is truly international. It was conceived over after-dinner tea in Northern California, published in Great Britain, and printed in Korea. The stories span the globe from Russia to Kenya via Germany, Palestine, Latin America, and Sumatra.
Steeped in the World of Tea
would make a fine inexpensive gift for any serious tea drinker.
Roland Petrov