May 25
Troy’s Teaview Snapshot
 | "A good coffee table book, or a solid purchase for a friend, but more useful for the Recipes than the details."
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On the one hand I'd say this is a great reference to have handy for the beginning to intermediate tea junky. It has several sections, some of which are arranged as for easy reference, some are intended to be read as normal chapters. If you're a more experienced devotee O' Tea you'll get the strong sense that this book was compiled by editors in a corporate environment and not written by one or more tea aficionados.
The sections entitled "Tea for health", and "A Little Tea Dictionary" seem as if they are simply reprints of material found online. I"ve seen that same dictionary, word for word, on several websites, and the health section parrots just about every health claim you'd find online without citing a single source (academic or otherwise) for any of these old wives tales. Somewhat more usefully it does assemble an Impressive number of Tea based Beverages, Alcaholic drinks, and recipies.
One of the, mentioned, reminders that this wasn't the work of a true addict, is the inclusion of many errors in the first of the three sections (Tea Culture, Tea at Home, Tea in your life) of the book. As I quoted in another review, entirely for my own amusement, they describe Earl Gray as "Classic British blend, it is based on black tea scented with cloves." Anyone who doesn't know that Earl Gray is in Fact black tea flavoured with B-e-r-g-a-m-o-t probably has no knowledge of tea beyond grocery store teabags. I've never had Black tea with cloves, nor heard of it ever being referred to as Earl Grey.
Still, errors aside, its an ok book to give a friend, provided they're not the type to believe everything they read in a book, and for the advanced or intermediate junky, it does serve as a handy one-stop for recipes, tea words, and the occasional giggle inducing story. So it wasn't a total bust, well that and the exceedingly attractive cashier I chatted up who seemed to share my literary problems, namely the fact that people in ones home can often take up valuable space better used by more book shelving. Pity I didn't ask for her number..
— To purchase All About Tea by Marshall Cavendish, or for more specific information on ingredients or the story behind this particular blend, click here to go directly to the manufacturer's web site.
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