Author: AJ

Book: The Chinese Art of Tea

16/04/2025 / / 0 Comments

This has been considered a favourite and a recommended read of many English-speaking tea-drinkers for many years, which meant it was low on my own priority list, as I tend to push past the more well-known reads and reach for the most obscure, out–of–print, niche-topic publications I can get my hands on.

Since this book has remained popular, I knew I wouldn’t have to look hard for it, so I just waited patiently for a good-condition edition to pop up at my usual used bookstore haunts.

I knew I’d likely be comparing this to similar books, like Chinese Tea Culture by Wang Ling, Chinese Tea by Liu Tong, The Spirit of Tea by Frank Hadley Murphy, and others when I finally did get around to reading it. Continue reading

Book: Urasenke Chado Textbook

09/04/2025 / / 0 Comments

This was intended to be the last post of 2024, but I suppose it’ll just have to be the first post of this year (four months in). This copy was leant to me by a friend back in July of last year, but I plan to add to my own shelf in time. An excellent resource to those starting out in chanoyu, this book details the theory and history of the art, but isn’t a practical guide. Rather, it stresses the importance in chanoyu of learning the practice from a teacher, and how it isn’t meant to be learnt through written works. I’ve noticed this point across a few works I’ve picked up. However, this publisher does also put out a set of three practical guides (likely meant to be used in tandem). Continue reading

Book: The Japanese Tea Ceremony

23/10/2024 / / 0 Comments

Often, small books like this aren’t really worth reviewing. At least not in terms of their informational merit and use as reference material.

I picked up this slim volume alongside a couple other vintage books on Japanese tea at a used bookstore sometime last year. I was drawn in by the simple, aged cover and the green and yellow artwork decorating every couple of pages (credited to Shiba Sumitani). It makes for a handsome little volume on my shelf.

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2024 Tea Festivals

16/10/2024 / / 0 Comments

It’s been a busy­ couple of weeks. I attended a friend’s chamei chakai, followed back to back by three Tea Festivals—Tea Gorgeous Equinox, the Northwest Tea Festival, and the Victoria Tea Festival Revival.

Normally, I have the Social Energy for exactly one festival a year, and this’ definitely taken it’s toll on me. I’m pretty content to spend the next couple of weekends recouping in isolation; it’s officially Cozy Sweater and Books weather. Continue reading

Book: Green Gold: The Political Economy of China’s Post-1949 Tea Industry

10/07/2024 / / 0 Comments

I don’t normally have to include the full subtitle of a book, but as I’ve got two books, by different authors, both titled ‘Green Gold’ (and I fully intend to read and review them both), I needed to differentiate.

I’ve been slowly working my way up to this book; I mentally categorize it in the trifecta of historical China tea-industry books, alongside Gardella’s Harvesting Mountains (1757-1937) and Smith’s Taxing Heaven’s Storehouse (1074-1224). This’ by far the shortest–about 250 pages–so of course I decided to hit it last. As the title suggests, it follows China’s tea production under the People’s Republic, up until roughly present day (the book was published in 1993). Continue reading

Book: The Teahouse

15/05/2024 / / 0 Comments

This book deals with a very specific topic, that of teahouse culture in Chengdu, Sichuan from the 1900s to 1950, so it’s unlikely to appeal to a broader tea enthusiast. But that’s never stopped me. This book touches on culture, politics, women’s rights, class relations, and the public perception of teahouse workers and teahouse goers. It’s dense with information, but very easy to read.

There’s a sequel dealing with Chengdu from the dawn of the People’s Republic to present day, and you can bet I’ll by laying hands on that in the future. There’s a couple other books I plan to read in the meantime, though. Continue reading

Book: Darjeeling: A History of the World’s Greatest Tea

01/05/2024 / / 0 Comments

Koehler’s descriptions paint a very visual narrative; having read several more technical, dry manufacturing guides on Sri Lankan and Indian tea processing, this is a welcome change. In his Acknowledgements at the back of the book, Koehler talks about the research he did for this book, and how although he consulted many records and books, the majority of what he documented came from staying at the gardens, talking to planters and pickers and meeting interesting characters to learn Darjeeling’s story. Continue reading

2023 In Review

31/01/2024 / / 0 Comments

So, unfortunately the Vancouver Tea Festival was cancelled in 2022, and didn’t resurface for 2023 either. It hasn’t had a proper event since 2020, but I’ve heard rumblings that there are new parties interested in planning for it, so hopefully we’ll see that comeback this year.

That said, 2023 was the year I vowed to get things together so I could do some proper travelling… My passport being the key item. Not having the Vancouver Tea Festival did kick me into making the trek onto a ferry to attend the Victoria Tea Festival. We’ll see how things expand this year.

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Book: Tea and Tea Dealing

21/06/2023 / / 0 Comments

Unsurprisingly, I picked this book out at the library for its blending section. I like reading first-hand, antiqued accounts of what goes into blends, and many of these works include sample recipes with the logic behind them. It puts a lot of stuff into context. Learning about old tea preferences, old blending nomenclature. I also come across a lot of defunct tea names.

These I’ve started keeping a log of (oonfa, oopack) to try and puzzle out what they’re referring to. Mbanu’s notes on teaforum.org help greatly; he’s done basically 100% of the legwork.

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Book: Tea Life, Tea Mind

15/03/2023 / / 0 Comments

The cover of 'Tea Life, Tea Mind'. A simple dark red with gold clouds, and the title printed over a green band.Having had this book sitting on my shelf for quite a while now, I kept passing it over for newer, more exciting acquisitions. I finally pulled it out to finish over a short busride.

Sen Soshitsu XV, the Fifth Grandmaster of the Urasenke School, wrote this account back in the 1970s. It sat comfortably beside Okakura Kakuzo’s The Book of Tea on my shelf, and I think picking up one is a good enough excuse to pick up the other. Neither are long reads. They’re not similar in content necessarily, but both are introspective looks on culture and East meets West. Continue reading