139
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ranked #216,893 most helpful
out of 571,544,897 reviews
★★☆☆☆
Seems hastily written, not for serious lovers of tea
There are a few things that throw up red flags here; factual errors and other things that, while not quite wrong, are inaccurate. The 'creation myth' for Big Red Robe varies, but that the flavor 'cloaks the mouth' is something I've never read anywhere. Also, explaining the dual evolution of the words tay (tea) and cha (chai), the author lists the Czech word as té/thé. As a Czech, I can attest that I've never heard this because the real word is čaj. Earthy is connoted to have a "unpleasant, soil-like" taste when many know that this taste could be desirable for teas such as pu-erh. Stonefruit is said to be "plum-like", when stonefruits encompass many more fruits such as peaches, cherries, etc. Under vanilla is simply written, "quite a desirable flavor". Gaiwan is erroneously written 'gawain' or 'gaiwain'. Spelling errors abound. There's even a chapter about 'tasseography', reading tea leaves. I was hoping for an in-depth read, but this book just seems like it was rushed to market and shoddily-written. I write almost exclusively good reviews and am not a critical person by nature, but if it saves other tea enthusiasts the disappointment of the purchase, then it'll have been of some help. Thanks for reading.
November 2013 · Books