Reddit reviews The Story of Tea: A Cultural History and Drinking Guide

In terms of general knowledge of tea, I've found these books immensely helpful.

The Story of Tea This is the official textbook of the Tea Association of Canada's Tea Sommelier certificate program (of which I'm taking) and is probably the best tea book out there right now, in terms of amount of content and quality of content. At least of the ones I - and everybody I talk to in the community - have come across. Comes in paper and in e-book form.

Tea I've had the chance to talk to Kevin, one of the authors of this book. He, not to mention his co-authors, are immensely knowledgeable. He and the three others are taster-importers, and have been in the business for twenty years. This book has beautiful pictures, and is a great general resource on tea. I used to manage a tea shop owned by a taster-importer, and once I started, he held up the book and asked "Have you read this book? Yes? Good. Because it'd be the first thing you do on this job if you hadn't." What I'm trying to say is that it's a good book. Not on e-book, to my knowledge, but it's a great thing to have on hand.

The Tea Companion This was the first book I picked up on tea, and after a fair amount of time, it's stayed among the books I'd recommend to people. It's an incredible, gentle introduction to the world of tea.

Finally - and this may be a little audacious of me - but I'm currently writing a tea book. I'm in the rough draft stage currently, but I'm uploading all of my content for free on a blog I run. When the time comes to publish, I think I'll set up a pay-what-you-want for the e-book format. I've gotten the thumbs up from one of the co-founders of the Tea Guild of Canada, and like to think the information is pretty good and relevant. It's not done yet; not even halfway done, but if you want an opportunity for a bunch of free content on tea, which will eventually become a book, here's my blog.

Hope you can find some use! (and by the way, if you guys have a problem of me promoting my to-be book, I will totally take down the last link. I don't monetize it, I don't have a shop, and truly just want to share my knowledge of the lovely camellia sinensis plant, but just let me know and it'll be gone!)

I haven't read it myself (it's on hold at the library though), but I've heard this is basically the definitive guide to tea.

The Story of Tea is, from my readings, one of the most thorough and well-researched books on the subject. While it places a heavy emphasis on history and cultivation, it delves deep into specific growing regions, the teas they produce, and the tea cultures of those regions. My only gripe is that they didn't mention samovars in their brief section on Russian tea culture, but a) it's forgivable, and b) now you know.

For similar breadth but (slightly) less thoroughness, Tea is an excellent choice. In fact, this is the book that I would recommend to anyone starting their tea journey. Of course, you can always read both. ;)

Happy reading!

The Story of Tea is a great book. Tons of information and really beautiful.

It's called The Story of Tea: A Cultural History and Drinking Guide

After that guy deleted his post, it's like we're having a secret conversation about a secret mug and a secret book. I was almost tempted not to post the reply...

Tea: History, Terroirs, Varietes: https://www.amazon.com/Tea-Terroirs-Varieties-Kevin-Gascoyne/dp/1770853197/

And the Story of Tea: https://www.amazon.com/Story-Tea-Cultural-History-Drinking/dp/1580087450

The Story of Tea is a really great book that I've been enjoying.

Sure, https://www.reddit.com/r/tea/wiki/faq

The Story of Tea: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1580087450/

Tea: History, Terroirs, Varieties https://www.amazon.com/dp/1770853197/

As for the relevance, your post states that Twinings is cheaper than Tazo, and I merely pointed out that a) that isn't necessarily true, and b) insistence upon the cheapest possible tea is arguably a bad thing.

Hmmm this one is one of the better general topic books. This one looks like it might be ok. Haven't read that one yet though. I tend to look at the more terroir specific books lately if I'm looking for info on tea.

I've had The Story of Tea for several years and like it a lot.