Books related to traveling for tea in China

Culture, language, tangibles, intangibles from countries known for tea. China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, India, etc...


Jul 8th, '13, 16:17
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Books related to traveling for tea in China

by Kaytea » Jul 8th, '13, 16:17

Greetings all!

I am looking for an insightful book pertaining to traveling for tea (drinking and probably purchasing tea and teawares) in China. I'm mainly interested in the Eastern part of China. Has anyone ever read a good book for such a traveler?

Thank you~!

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Jul 8th, '13, 17:16
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Re: Books related to traveling for tea in China

by Evan Draper » Jul 8th, '13, 17:16

In English? And why a book?

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Jul 9th, '13, 00:35
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Re: Books related to traveling for tea in China

by Teaism » Jul 9th, '13, 00:35

Kaytea wrote:Greetings all!

I am looking for an insightful book pertaining to traveling for tea (drinking and probably purchasing tea and teawares) in China. I'm mainly interested in the Eastern part of China. Has anyone ever read a good book for such a traveler?

Thank you~!

Tea is very big culture in China and can be found in almost every corner. You can find the recommendation for teahouses etc, in any of the traveller's guide. My suggestion is best for you to go there and enjoy the ambience and culture and gain some understanding. To specficically travel there to buy tea in tea shop can be .... hmmmmmm...I am lost for words...I leave it to fellow forummers to chip in.... :)

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Jul 9th, '13, 02:50
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Re: Books related to traveling for tea in China

by wyardley » Jul 9th, '13, 02:50

While it's more about the author's experiences than a "how-to", you could check out this book (Jason Chen's A Tea Lover's Travel Diary: Phoenix Single-Tree Oolong Tea Tie Kuan Yin Oolong Tea -- http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8993 ... avel-diary).

I'm not aware of any English language books that are a "guidebook" type thing to tea tourism; I think that's probably a bit too specialized. However, several US tea vendors do some tea tours of China and Taiwan. If you're interested in learning about tea but don't have the language skills or connections to do it on your own, this might be one route to go.

When you say Eastern China, do you mean northeast, or southeast; which provinces are you thinking of? More to the point, what kind of teas do you like. If you want to actually visit tea growing areas, most tea growing is fairly specific to certain regions (that is, tea is grown in a lot of different parts of China, but most regions specialize in certain teas or types of teas).

Jul 9th, '13, 13:59
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Re: Books related to traveling for tea in China

by Kaytea » Jul 9th, '13, 13:59

Mainly I want a book so I can read it at home and get inspired. I hate to spend too much time on computers. I'm an old fashioned book lover who prefers the real thing than a kindle or whatnot or looking at myriads of info on the net.

I don't speak much of the language, but was told that the best is to go from the North East to South East. I'm just scared of going there unprepared. I don't want to go to famous tea places, I want to experience the everyday thing Chinese have. I once was shown a blog many many years ago about a guy who did exactly that and I wanted to try too. I'm just looking for an author that may have traveled just for tea and his experience and more or less where he went. I find traveler's guide a bit generic and don't concentrate on that. My main reason to go to China is tea and food. The rest will come along on its own.

I'll check out the book, wyardley! Thanks!

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Jul 9th, '13, 14:43
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Re: Books related to traveling for tea in China

by wyardley » Jul 9th, '13, 14:43

While there's some tea growing in the northern parts of China, a lot of the really well known teas are grown in the southern / central areas.

Oolong growing is clustered in a pretty compact area -- northern part of Guangdong, both north and south of Anxi Province, and then (across the strait) Taiwan.

Most of the most famous / prestigious green teas are in fairly south/central areas like Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China%27s_Famous_Teas

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