The country’s leading connoisseur presents a comprehensive guide for developing your tea palate.
The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea transforms tea drinkers into tea experts. Written by one of the country’s leading tea professionals, The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea is an illuminating resource for tea drinkers interested in developing and refining their palate as well as their understanding of the complex agricultural, historical, and cultural significance of tea.
Drawing on his singular experience, Michael Harney masterly explores the full range of teas, revealing how each tea is distinctive, with a taste that derives from a precise combination of cultivation and production techniques, and influenced by the geography as well as its history. These lively profiles of diverse tea varieties—from delicate white tea to aged black puerh tea—include brewing instructions and vivid descriptions of the beverage scent, taste, and appearance; everything you need to become a connoisseur.
Tea has long been popular in the United States, but only recently have Americans treated this nuanced beverage with a deeper curiosity, more refined approach, and wider appetite. The Wall Street Journal reports that total U.S. tea sales are nearly four times what they were in 1990, and this growing population of discriminate consumers will celebrate the new vocabulary provided in The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea.
Unique in scope, candor, and accessibility, The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea will quickly become the classic reference and staple in the library of every serious tea drinker.
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Product Details
Author:
Michael Harney
Hardcover:
272 pages
Publisher:
Penguin Press HC, The
Publication Date:
October 02, 2008
Language:
English
ISBN:
1594201382
Product Length:
8.52 inches
Product Width:
7.28 inches
Product Height:
0.78 inches
Product Weight:
1.39 pounds
Package Length:
10.0 inches
Package Width:
8.7 inches
Package Height:
0.9 inches
Package Weight:
1.35 pounds
Average Customer Rating:
based on 19 reviews
Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review: ( 19 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
30 of 30 found the following review helpful:
Destined to be a Classic Feb 12, 2009
By Ralph White Michael Harney's new book is exceptionally attractive and will make a fine gift for any occasion. But the stunning beauty of this book is far from skin deep. It's clear that Michael Harney approached this project the way he, his Father, John, and his brother, Paul, approach tea making itself. He clearly wanted the book itself to be elegant, but he also required that it illustrate the dimensionality and substance for which his teas are known.
Let me recommend a creative approach to this book. Start with the Appendix, From Tree to Tea, The Chemistry of Tea. How, otherwise, will you know what tea even is? Then treat yourself to a very succinct, five page, History of Tea. Okay, now flip back to the front and read the Introduction. Here Harney tells what led him to the business and what led him to write the book. You come away assured that his credentials are exactly what you wanted in a guide to teas. Michael Harney is a tea person's tea person, the ideal personal trainer for teas.
The Guide to Tasting Teas is an eye opener. Who knew that there was something to be learned from examining the dry leaves? Who knew pot type affected a tea's taste? Who knew about filtered water, and the impact of brewing temperatures, and brewing times? Who knew what to look for in the liquor? Who knew what intelligence there was to gain from smelling the wet tea leaves after pouring the liquor off? And who even thought that there could be a vocabulary dealing with the nuances of a tea's body and flavor? In fact you'll know all of this before you get to page 17, which is where your tour of the tea world will begin.
Start with a tea with which you feel familiar, say a Ceylon Black Tea. In this section you will find that there are three categories of tea, depending on the elevation of the tea gardens. You will learn that "The high grown teas, between four thousand and six thousand feet are what make Ceylon Teas' reputation. That rarefied air produces exceptional teas like the wintergreen Uva Highlands." Imagine! You learned something so basic about a tea you thought you already knew; imagine what you'll learn about teas with which you are completely unfamiliar.
In time we'll wonder how we limped along in the tea world before Michael Harney wrote this classic.
16 of 17 found the following review helpful:
A Down-to-Earth "How-To" Guide to Great Tea Jan 16, 2009
By Janice I have a soft spot in my heart for Harney & Sons because I learned to love tea by visiting their tea tasting room in Millerton, NY. This book is the perfect follow-up to that experience. Most of the book is devoted to tea tasting, and is designed to walk the reader through the process of preparing and drinking a series of related teas. The differences and similarities are described, which I find helps me focus on the subtleties of these special teas and heightens my enjoyment of them.
This book can pay for itself by helping you avoid buying expensive tea that you don't enjoy. Mr. Harney recommends other tea suppliers, in addition to his family business, several of which (including Harney's,) offer samples or small quantities for sale. It's a great guide to purchasing and experiencing samples, so that you only buy larger quantitities of the teas you most enjoy.
13 of 15 found the following review helpful:
A book for nearly all the senses Feb 14, 2009
By S. Hoyt-McBeth I cannot do it the same justice as the first two reviewers, but I am in the middle of reading this thoroughly enjoyable book and the quality of writing, command of the subject, and passion for the product compelled me to comment.
This is a lovely book. I think Ralph White's suggested reading sequence is a good one. My only wish is that the publishers and/or Mr. Harney had included photos of all the teas.
Bravo Michael Harney!
5 of 5 found the following review helpful:
Harney & Sons Guide to Tea Jun 25, 2009
By Joseph T. Marino
"jtm"
This is an excellent book. Although it limits the teas that are reviewed, there is a broad enough range to give the reader an overview. The most fascinating aspect is how the author explains and intertwines the history of tea with the history of the nations involved. The author's descriptions of flavor and body of the brewed teas are very accurate. I have five books on tea. This is the best.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Useful Descriptors of Tea Classics Dec 22, 2011
By Jason O. Walker M. Harney's The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea takes you on a tea tasting. You pass through pages that describe must-try white teas to greens to oolongs to blacks. Yellow teas and pu'ers get mentioned as well. The Guide contributes to the discussion by relating notes on how the teas should look and taste, and the processing these teas undergo.
The merits of the tastings lie in the descriptors. While many tea descriptions play it safe by describing green teas as "grassy," Harney gives a more thorough account. That does not mean that you will appreciate the descriptors he gives, or agree with him on the choice of descriptors. It does, however, provide a starting point for the tea description conversation, and enable new tea drinkers to make better starting choices.
Demerits, as mentioned in several other reviews, is the complete lack of photographs. Photos of fresh, healthy, high quality dry leaf would go a long way in educating the reader. On the other hand, variations in lighting, preparation method, etc., make pictures of the liquid nearly useless. Another possible objection is the way the collection reads like a catalog of Harney offerings. While true to some extent, many of the teas also represent the tea classics. Like literary classics, you will broaden your tea-horizons whether you drink Harney's versions or from other high-quality sources.
based on 19 reviews
Destined to be a Classic Feb 12, 2009
By Ralph White
Useful Descriptors of Tea Classics Dec 22, 2011
By Jason O. Walker
