Green Tea in books?

[clareandromeda]

I am reading a book currently called "The Teahouse Fire" by Ellis Avery. It's a novel told by a servant living in the house of master teachers of tea ceremony (temae) just as Japan is opening up to the outside world in the late 1800's.

I find the narrator a bit odd but the details regarding tea ceremonies and chawan especially are quit delicious for a matcha enthusiast.

Next on my list is Memoirs of a Geisha...Any other book nerds here? Has anyone else read great tea books, fiction or nonfiction? I would love new material to read while I sip my shincha (which should arrive by saturday!!!).

[Jack_teachat]

I very much enjoyed "Zen in the art of the Tea Ceremony" by Horst Hammitzsch when I read it a while back.

Jack

[TEAcipes]

I am reading a book currently called "The Teahouse Fire" by Ellis Avery. It's a novel told by a servant living in the house of master teachers of tea ceremony (temae) just as Japan is opening up to the outside world in the late 1800's.

I find the narrator a bit odd but the details regarding tea ceremonies and chawan especially are quit delicious for a matcha enthusiast.

Next on my list is Memoirs of a Geisha...Any other book nerds here? Has anyone else read great tea books, fiction or nonfiction? I would love new material to read while I sip my shincha (which should arrive by saturday!!!).

I've read both The Tea House Fire and Memoirs of a Geisha... And I LOVE them! Although both books' historical 'correctness' is a little iffy, they both are great reads for tea enthusiasts.
Right now I'm reading Liquid Jade, with is more like an anthropology text book compared to the two aforementioned books. But fun nonetheless!

[fmoreira272]

Right now I'm reading Liquid Jade, with is more like an anthropology text book compared to the two aforementioned books. But fun nonetheless!

I got the Liquid Jade from my local library and liked so much i ended up ordering online.
Also recommended:
Tea by Lydia Gautier (beautiful pictures, perfect as a coffee table book plus rich in tea facts)
New Tastes in Green Tea by Mutsuko Tokunaga and Jane Pettigrew (yummy recipes with matcha and other green teas)
Chanoyu: Japanese Tea Ceremony by Hayashiya Seizo(even though most pictures were black/white the details and narrative were very interesting)
The Harney & Sons guide to tea by Michael Harney (step by step on how to develop your tea tasting skills)

Not a book but just watched the movie The Sea is watching by Kurasawa and it had a lot of tea scenes. Very entertaining.

[clareandromeda]

Jack: Apparently "Zen in the Art..." is out of print and even the mighty New York Public Library doesn't carry it

TEAcipes: I just requested Liquid Jade, I'm excited. Didn't you find the main character in the Teahouse Fire frustrating? Then end helped pull it together but for most of the book I wanted to yell at her for being so passive. I suppose that's the liberated American Woman in me. I'm excited for Memoirs, I've heard its Fab.

Fmoreira272: The only book you suggested that the New York Public Library has isNew Tastes.It's on my request list. I'm saddened by NYC's lack of interest in tea!

In my searching I also found
Tea: Addiction, Exploitation, and Empire. by Roy Moxham. "Moxham explains how a nation's longing for the seemingly innocuous pleasures of a hot cup of tea drew it to commit unspeakable horrors." -Booklist. It sounds a bit dry for me but someone may be into it

Also looks similar: Tea : the drink that changed the world by Laura C. Martin (no summary)

Thanks so much for the recomendations! I love knowing a book is worthwhile. I'll have to start checking used bookstores (which will be fun actually) for some of the other titles.

[xuancheng]

Tea of the Sages: The Art of Sencha

by Patricia J. Graham

This is a book I have been looking forward to reading for awhile. The link above is to the publisher's website.

There is also a review topic for tea books in the 'miscellany' section of teachat.[/url]

[chamekke]

Just as a reference, I have 79 of my books tagged with "tea" on LibraryThing. Even if most of them are tea-ceremony related, nonetheless the list may be useful to some for bibliographic information:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/chamekke&tag=tea

{looks for herself} Hmm, I'm going to have to add more reviews...

[clareandromeda]

chamekke: Looks like THE list on tea books. Thank you so much for sharing Im already adding to my list.
Now just me being nosey..how many languages can you read in?
PS. I Looooooooove Father Ted!!

xuancheng: sorry if this is a redundant post but since I was interested specifically in green tea I thought I could post it here. My apologies!

[xuancheng]

...

xuancheng: sorry if this is a redundant post but since I was interested specifically in green tea I thought I could post it here. My apologies!

I understand your MO, and please don't apologize to me! I just wanted to make sure you were aware of it as there may be more books not posted here.

[clareandromeda]

xuancheng: there I go being neurotic again! thanks for the link

[TEAcipes]

I'm excited for Memoirs, I've heard its Fab.

It IS. I read it when it first came out, I *think* I was in high school then. I loved it from the first chapter, I read it two nights.

I'm reading the Book of Tea by Okakura right now. As much as I love tea, this book konks me out as fast as a physics text book.

[chamekke]

chamekke: Looks like THE list on tea books. Thank you so much for sharing Im already adding to my list.
Now just me being nosey..how many languages can you read in?

Heh, I really have very little Japanese. Where tea-related books are concerned, if they're in Japanese, mainly I just look at the pictures. Kanji-wise I am still at pre-school level.

PS. I Looooooooove Father Ted!!

Me too. Especially Dougal. "Aah! Brilliant. A load of people in a stable! It's the one thing I didn't expect."

[fmoreira272]

Fmoreira272: The only book you suggested that the New York Public Library has isNew Tastes.It's on my request list. I'm saddened by NYC's lack of interest in tea!

I'm sorry to hear about your local library. im so lucky to have boston's huge network available. if one library doesnt have something they will get from another one right away. its the only time i really feel good about paying taxes!
I have very very small shelf space but i cannot help buying books all the time. i used to donate to libraries until i literally found a book from http://www.bookcrossing.com/. Now i keep a pile of "extras" to release into the wild. In fact i was saving some tea books for the next time i go to starbucks just to try to convert some coffee drinkers.

But it seems that theres a big interest between tea lovers and not enough books around. i can check the ones i have and if you or anybody else might be interested i can send by media mail. all i ask is that after you done with the book is to enter a short update in the website and release it again. I really enjoy following "my books". I left some books in the airport in brazil few months ago. they ended in morroco and later in chicago... would be great to see tea knowledge traveling specially by people who really care about.

[chamekke]

I'm reading the Book of Tea by Okakura right now. As much as I love tea, this book konks me out as fast as a physics text book.

It's sort of heretical to say this in tea-ceremony circles, but I find the writing style of The Book of Tea to be pretty turgid.

If you want a book that gives an authentic account of both the philosophy and the "feel" of Japanese tea ceremony, I usually recommend one of the books by Sen Soshitsu. I think The Spirit of Tea is especially wonderful, but if it's too hard to come by, you could try either Tea Life, Tea Mind or Chado: The Japanese Way of Tea.

[xuancheng]

I'm reading the Book of Tea by Okakura right now. As much as I love tea, this book konks me out as fast as a physics text book.

It's sort of heretical to say this in tea-ceremony circles, but I find the writing style of The Book of Tea to be pretty turgid.

+1
I read it online in PDF form. I don't think I would buy that book.