It's a busy week. On Sunday I went into the countryside outside of Busan to visit a real Japanese teahouse for some 말차or Matcha in English/Japanese otherwise known as powdered green tea served in the ancient way : mixed with water and you consume both powder and tea.  Much stronger taste than if infused. I'll do a blog post on it by Friday.
On Wednesday I'll be dropping by a teahouse in Someyeon that serves tea that way and also with ice cream in Affogato form. I'll be reviewing that one as well later this week.

There is also a section on the development of the Japanese tea ceremony and a chapter on the evolution of tea pots and cups.
Beyond mere history, the book also details how to make a decent pot of tea, the health benefits of tea and reviews of 50 famous Chinese teas.
Overall, this book serves as an excellent overview of tea history and culture and goes beyond China. It's title is misleading. It should be titled "All the Tea".  It is well worth the money !


The Ancient Art of Tea by Warren Peltier is for the more advanced tea masters. The author has translated many passages from many of the ancient tea writers.
It contains a rather short chapter tea culture, a very long chapter with several subsections on the water used for tea and a long chapter on the fire used for tea.
In the days before electric kettles and thermometers tea, temperatures (all below boiling) were recorded by observing the steam and the bubbles rising up from the water.
If you are heating your water using a charcoal fire (something I plan on learning this September...) these last two chapters would be of interest, otherwise this is merely a quaint book on tea.   

Published in 2010, Korean Tea Classics contains translations of three ancient writings in praise of tea. The work is well researched making a minefield of footnotes with references to ancient Chinese people, places and other works.

This book is a good read for those deeply interested in tea culture. It was researched, translated and written by Hanjae Yi Mok and the Venerable Cho ui both of whom, I understand are teaching tea ceremony and culture up in Seoul these days in and around Insadong.
 Written by the famous An Song Jae, otherwise known as Brother Anthony of Taize, The Korean Way of Tea is an excellent book on tea overall. It is a must purchase for those interested in tea in Korea. It has a section on brewing tea the Korean way and one on making Japanse powdered tea.  Both are explained step by step with plenty of photos.
The book also explains the picking and processing of green tea,
and the development of tea culture in Korea

The book of Tea is a definite must have for anyone interested in Tea. It was written in the 1900s when Japan was going through a period of rapid modernization. Railroads were built across the country, shogunates became the present day prefectures as the Japanese military was modernized. It was during this time that scholar and samurai decendant Kakuzo Okakura came to New York and wrote his "The Book of Tea".

Fluent in both Chinese and English, Okakura became disturbed by not the modernization of Japan but the utter disregard his fellow Japanese were showing as they carelessly discarded their own cultural heritage in adopting western ways. Okakura was greatly influential in the American art world, persuading many gallery owners and universities to begin collecting ancient Japanese art works. He served many as a consultant and art critic thus preserving many Japanese art works from destruction at the hands of his fellow countrymen. It is his work, The Book of Tea that is widely read today as a celebration of the ideals of tea ceremony and Zen philosophy. His work was written in English for foreign eyes to see the inherent values in ancient Asian ways and to appreciate nature, art and tea. It is available here in Korea from http://www.whatthebook.com/ :-) It is due to the works of men and women like Okakura that the art of tea is preserved todays modern times.

Although The Book of Tea is centered on the Japanese tea ceremony using Matcha (Korean 말차)  it covers tea history and culture in China as well in a brief chapter on 'the schools of tea" where it describes how tea was taken and its respective philosophy at that time. It then goes into several chapters that are most helpful in fully appreciating Japanese tea ceremony : Taoism and Zennism, The Tea Room, Art Appreciation, Flowers, Tea Masters.
Overall this book is a must have for any students of tea and especially for those interested in the Japanese tea ceremony. Later this week I'll post my review on a Japanese style Zen tearoom in Someyeon. Till then, stay steeped and prefereably with ice : its rather hot these days!