The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea - Michael Harney [0]
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Introduction
WHITE TEAS
CHINESE GREEN TEAS
JAPANESE GREEN TEAS
OOLONGS
YELLOW TEAS
CHINESE BLACK TEAS
BRITISH LEGACY BLACK TEAS
DARJEELING BLACK TEAS
NILGIRI BLACK TEAS
ASSAM BLACK TEAS
CEYLON BLACK TEAS
KENYAN BLACK TEAS
BRITISH BLACK TEA BLENDS
PUERHS
THE FUTURE OF TEA
APPENDIX - Tea-Tasting Menus
APPENDIX - From Tree to Tea: The Chemistry of Tea
APPENDIX - Tea Through Time: A Brief History
APPENDIX - Tea Sources
Acknowledgements
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
THE PENGUIN PRESS
Published by the Penguin Group
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First published in 2008 by The Penguin Press,
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Copyright © Michael Harney, 2008
All rights reserved
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA
Harney, Michael, date.
The Harney & Sons guide to tea / Michael Harney.
p. cm.
Includes index.
eISBN : 978-1-440-64202-9
1. Tea. 2. Tea tasting. I. Title. II. Title: Harney and Sons guide
to tea. III. Title: Guide to tea.
GT2905.H37 2008
394.1’2—dc22
2008012495
Book design and maps by Meighan Cavanaugh
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For Brigitte and the boys
INTRODUCTION
Over the last twenty years as a tea buyer, blender, and connoisseur, I’ve seen the landscape change radically for tea lovers. More teas are available today, of a better quality and in a wider range of flavors, than at any point in history. In this new tea world, it seemed to me that tea drinkers needed a more complete guide to the ancient beverage, a handbook to give them a more nuanced and clearer understanding of the drink. As we embark on this tea-tasting journey—from the light honeysuckle of the finest white teas to the rich smokiness of the darkest blacks—you will cultivate your palate and enhance your ability to discern and enjoy tea.
I first encountered tea in 1970, when I was fifteen. My father, John Harney, then ran the White Hart Inn in Salisbury, Connecticut. He had taken on a side project selling loose tea with a neighbor, Stanley Mason. A diminutive, charming Englishman, Mason had started a small mail-order business, Sarum Teas, in our town after many loyal years of service in New York to the British tea firm Brooke Bond. As a teenager, I helped Mason and my father carry heavy wooden chests of tea down to the White Hart basement, where we would package the tea into small tins. The dry black filaments all looked the same to