You may be surprised to hear this, but tons of tea books exist. Tea books range from purely informative to stories of individuals’ tea journies. Although I had been drinking tea, I didn’t know how vast tea was until I read my first book. That catapulted me into my passion and nerdy obsession with it today.
Over my journey, I have collected many tea books. However, there are a few that I often reference for information to help broaden my understanding of tea. I have compiled a few tea books you want to add to your collection.
In this post, you will learn more about five tea books you don’t want to live without!
1. Tea, A User’s Guide.
Tony’s book was my very first. It started my tea journey, and I still reference it today. It was essential to my beginning because it showed me the possibilities. Tony’s does a great job at going into the worlds of tea processing and composition and combining it with detailed explanations and pictures of many teas you can come across during your journey. I would recommend Tea, A User’s Guide for anyone beginning their tea education.
2. Tea, History, Terroirs, Varieties.
Next up is Tea, History, Terroirs, Varieties. In my line of tea books, this pushed me into a higher degree of learning. It does have a brief discussion on tea composition and processing. This book does exceptionally well because it takes you from region to region and breaks down how tea is processed and the different styles produced. It was my first look into the organoleptic systems involved in tea tasting. It provided me a picture of my first tasting wheel, which I still use during tea cuppings today, and even has data from tea experiments around topics such as how much caffeine is in tea.
3. Jane Pettigrew’s World Of Tea
Don’t be tricked by the picture. Jane Pettigrew’s World Of Tea is HUGE! It is 429 mega pages packed with all the tea information you could ever ask for. What made this book stand out to me was how it goes through regions worldwide AND the United States listing tea companies in those areas. Until I added this book to my collection, I didn’t know of many of the tea companies in the United States or sites where they grow tea. The US doesn’t typically have the climate that tea likes to grow in, but the places that can do it are in this book. It also goes through tons of tea info, such as composition, compounds, storage, and processing. When you visit a particular location in the book, such as Colombia, in South America, you can see the number of gardens, annual production, altitude, types of tea made, and much more. Think about that and scale it from a global perspective!
4. Matcha: A Lifestyle Guide
As a dedicated tea drinker and lover, matcha is always on the brain. I wanted a book that could give me a specific look because of how popular matcha has become. I found Matcha: A Lifestyle Guide by Jessica Flint and Anna Kavaliunas. Their book is perfect for anyone wanting to dive into matcha more. It covers history, processing, and health benefits and offers plenty of recipes! It’s the book you can take a bit at a time and return to for recipes. If you want to read more about matcha, you can check out my article, “Matcha, 6 Fun Facts For Beginners”.
5. Eighty Degrees Tea Magazine
Although not a tea book, Eighty Degrees should be on your tea books list. Eighty degrees highlights tea in a beautiful light. They cover tea topics such as tea and mediation, teaware, and specific types of tea. They also interview tea farmers, sellers, drinkers, connoisseurs, and regular drinkers to hear their stories and perspectives. I love filling my heart and mind with different views on tea and how it affects individuals, cultures, regions, and more differently. There are tea magazines out there, but none are like Eighty Degrees. I discovered Eighty Degrees when they were at volume three and remember thinking, this is the tea magazine I had wished every magazine before it was like.
Check out these five tea books, and keep searching for more. If you purchase any, let me know in the comments what you think!
In this post, you learned about five tea books you don’t want to be without!
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