All about tea

A book that reduces the intricate art of producing, brewing and drinking tea to readable material. That must be an inside job. Indeed, Passion for tea was written by Louise Cheadle and Nick Kilby, tea buyers in London.

1908 is the year in which the world changed forever. Not because the suffragettes held a mass march through London to demand women’s liberation. But because a New York tea merchant accidentally invented the tea bag that year when he put his tea leaves in silk bags for protection.

Tea bags

It ensured that the drink ultimately became accessible to everyone. If the good man had kept his discovery to himself, what would the average cup of tea look like today?

In that case, we would not have had the book from which I dug up this fact, either. The book of tea – growing it, making it, drinking it, the history, recipes and lots more. A long title, indeed. But better than Passion for tea.

Turks drink the most tea per person worldwide.

The authors Louise Cheadle and Nick Kilby are, after all, the founders of the British hip pyramid tea bag brand Teapigs. In that capacity, they travelled all over the world to buy tea anyway, so why not write a book at the same time?

Uzbek tea

A book full of tea facts. For example, that Turks drink the most tea per person, ahead of the Irish and Uzbeks. That it was the Dutch Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) that brought the first tea to Europe in 1610—a green one from Japan. And that the British learned to appreciate tea thanks to Charles II’s exile in The Hague. How tea grows, is harvested, processed and drunk around the world. How tea masters taste tea. Which biscuit is best for dunking—everything from the British title. And more.

In 1610, the VOC brought the first Japanese (green) tea to Europe.

For a long time I wondered whether PVT was a children’s book, because you have to wade through quite a lot of textual jollity and cheerful little illustrations. But then an Earl Grey martini, whose recipe is provided, is not really a children’s drink after all.

Beginner level

Not a children’s book, then, but a genuine introductory book. And that is quite an achievement. The fairly complex and comprehensive subject matter has been shaped into a readable beginner’s level. For anyone who wants to know more about the world’s most-consumed drink after water, but does not immediately want to read at the semi-scientific level at which many tea books excel.

Compare it to how you often start by drinking tea from bags, only to switch to the real thing at some point.

Passion for tea

Louise Cheadle & Nick Kilby
Kosmos publishing house
€25,-

Text: Marjan Ippel
Image: from Passion for tea; © Scorpp/Shutterstock