Tea pot is on, the cups are waiting,
Favorite chairs anticipating,
No matter what I have to do,
My friend there's always time for you.
Anonymous
Books about tea
First and foremost there's Kakuzo Okakura's wonderful poetic
The Book of Tea.
A html-ed version is
here.
Sen-no-Rikyu's 14th granson, Sioshitsu Sen, wrote a book
describing the tea ceremony "Chado" and
another about tea culture in our times
"Tea Life, Tea Mind".
Current recommendations:
- Darjeeling Oaks ff 2001
- Wonderful fruitlike taste, almost impossible
to brew wrong. From Königmanns Teeladen.
- Darjeeling Bannockburn ff 2001
- Another extremly good First Flush. Fresh with a hint of lemon. From
Evas Teeplantage.
- Ceylon Lover's Leap BOP
- Extremely cheap and beautiful at the same time. Has a light, lemony
flavor. Available at Upton's and at Teeblätter.
- Fortnum & Mason's St. James Restaurant Tea
- Best Afternoon Blend I've tasted so far. Unfortunately they
stopped selling it abroad, so the only place to buy it now is the
Fortnum&Mason store in London, Picadilly.
- Ning Hong Ying Hao
- A strong, black tea with a nice peppery note to it. From Königmanns.
Where to buy tea?
Good question.
If you're in the area around Nürnberg I'd
recommend Evas Teeplantage in Vordere Sterngasse in
Nürnberg. They've got a wide variety of teas and their service
is excellent. Their selection of Chinese Green teas and Oolongs
is unmatched.
In Erlangen I'd recommend Königmanns Teeladen
in Helmstraße.
If you would like to order over the net, here's a couple of web pages
to look at:
- Teeblaetter
- is a German mail-order tea store. The descriptions of most of the
teas are not very descriptive, so you should know what you're looking
for. They've got lots of Chinese green teas and oolongs. They package
two samples per order for free and you can choose them.
- Upton Tea
- has excellent service and an incredible spectrum of teas,
especially Indian teas. They offer samples of each of their teas at
reasonable prices so you can taste before you buy larger quantities.
- Imperial Tea Court
- not as many teas as the companies mentioned above but all of the
highest quality (prices too, unfortunately).
If you happen to come to San Francisco,
their tearoom in Chinatown is really worth a visit.
- Holy Mountain
- Apart from tea they sell unbelievably many different
teapots, several dozen japanese cast iron and chinese yixing.
Last Update: 2002/12/02 16:45:35
Revision: 1.18