The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea - Michael Harney [60]
HARNEY & SONS FINE TEAS
This is the company I run with my father, John, and my brother Paul. We’re honoredto supply teas to some of the finest restaurants, hotels, and tea drinkers in the world.
The Railroad Plaza
Main Street
Millerton, NY
800-TEA-TIME (832-8463)
www.harneyteas.com
IMPERIAL TEA COURT
Roy Fong runs several terrific Chinese tea rooms in the San Francisco area. He was the first one to point me down the road of great Chinese teas.
1411 Powell Street
San Francisco, CA 94133
800-567-5898
www.imperialtea.com
MARIAGE FRÈRES
Founded in 1854, Mariage Frères is the oldest tea company in France. In the early 1980s, the Mariage family sold the firm to Richard Bueno and Kitti Cha Sangmanee. The two have inspired me to great heights ever since.
35, rue du Bourg-Tibourg
75004 Paris
France
www.mariagefreres.com
NOTHING BUT TEA
Nigel Melican is a treasure to the world tea industry, both for his deep knowledge and for his commitment to helping emerging tea regions. He runs this UK Web site with his daughter.
www.nbtea.co.uk (online only)
RISHI TEA
Joshua Kaiser started in the tea business less than a decade ago, but he keeps me on my toes with his smart sourcing.
www.rishi-tea.com (online only)
UPTON TEA
Based in Massachusetts, Tom Eck supplies an encyclopedic variety of teas through his Web site.
www.uptontea.com (online only)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many people helped me put this book together, especially since it was my first literary endeavor. First I want to thank my father, John. Without him there would be no book, as there would be no Harney & Sons. He introduced me to this special little world of tea, which has been my obsession for twenty years. I hope I can pass his enthusiasm on to the next generation of Harneys. James Norwood Pratt was an inspiration; I always enjoy his command of the language. Marcus Wulf of Germany’s HamburgerTeeHandel tea brokerage firm has been a fellow traveler in tea for many years. Few in the world have his experience. He has been invaluable to this book, extraordinarily generous with his knowledge and contacts. He quizzed tea producers across the globe about current production methods for me. I tip my cup to him.
Other experts have proven indispensable: Tsuyoshi Sugimoto may be the most astute observer of Japanese teas. I always listen to his sage advice about Japan’s teas, past and present. Wang Shengdu is an expert on all the wonderful teas of Fujian province and hosted some long trips around that beautiful area of China. Lu Shun Yong has worked with the green teas of Zhejiang province for many years, yet he still looks so young. Shao Hui knows the back roads of Anhui province and makes a wonderful Keemun Mao Feng. Steve He almost gave away the secret of yellow teas from Junshan in Hunan province, but thought twice. Ashok Lohia of Chamong Group and his assistant, Ajay Kichlu, make some of the best Darjeelings in that region, and gave me great insight into Darjeeling production. Also quite helpful with current conditions in India were Subrata Basu of Jayshree and Soumitra Banerjee of the venerable Goodricke. Amit Kumar Sen of Godfrey Phillips India and Krishan Kaytal of J. Thomas & Co. both elucidated the Calcutta brokers’ viewpoint on Indian teas. Lalin Fernando and Amitha Wijiskera shed light on the delicious world of Ceylon teas. The intricacies of Taiwanese oolongs were revealed to me over the years (and many lovely cups of tea) by Hsiang Bin and George Shu. Peter Davies, a professor of plant biology at Cornell University, helped me articulate what really happens inside green tea leaves. After two decades in the tea trade, there are quite a few more people I would love to include here; I appreciate them and have passed on their knowledge with this book as best I could.
As much as I have learned about tea, however, turning all my knowledge into a book required some alchemy. Ileene Smith thought I could be more than her child