4/5 stars
Paperback, 159 pages.
Read from May 28, 2018 to June 1, 2018.
Buying a book spur of the moment is one of life’s greatest pleasures. After I swore off buying new books when I moved abroad I altered the rules a little bit to acquire this book under the guise that it was a souvenir. 
I have always had a love of tea and have enjoyed learning about it. Admittedly, there is much more to tea, its history, growth, preparation and drinking than I anticipated so I still have a lot more reading to do.
I picked up this book while I was visiting one of my favourite places in Hong Kong, the Nan Lian Garden which is located parallel to the Chi Lin Nunnery. Within the gardens, there is a teahouse, Song Cha Xie, that is donned in traditional Tang dynasty style architecture and is set within the middle of the beautiful gardens.
After removing my shoes and slipping on some sandals, I was whisked away into the tranquil environment of the teahouse where I was able to choose from a variety of traditional Chinese teas. I settled on a 20-year old pu-reh, my favourite type of tea. I was shown how to make the tea properly with a proper Chinese tea set and inquisitively asked about all the different tea-tools at the table. Even though I was at the Nan Lian Gardens on a writing assignment, I had always wanted to visit the teahouse, despite the steep (no pun intended) prices, and decided to venture in and find a way to include the visit in my piece.
After a few utterly delightful hours of drinking tea on my own with nothing but silence around me, I regretfully had to leave. On the way out was when I spotted this book. I knew I had to have it after my great experience in the tea house. Prime marketing right? There were two other books to choose from by the same author, one on pu-reh and the other on green tea, but I didn’t dally on the decision long before walking out with this book. I wish I had all three, perhaps I will go back and get the one on pu-reh…
The book details the brief history of tea, the different types of tea, where they’re grown as well as descriptions of their taste and colour. The final chapter is dedicated to different types of tea sets, their best use and their history. Even though this book is short, the content is concise and interesting. It also has fantastic accompanying images that really bring life to the book. I have read much larger books on tea but found myself inundated with too much knowledge all at once whereas this book was concise and to the point and is easy to look back and reference. By far, this has been the most straightforward and enjoyable book on tea I have read so far and one that I am sure I will use again when I have more inquisitions.
This book is a perfect introductory piece for tea and tea knowledge. There is a selection of the author’s works on Amazon, so if you are tea lover I would definitely recommend snagging a copy for your library, coffee table, tea room or kitchen.
Want to know more about the Nan Lian Gardens or the Chi Lin Nunnery? Check out the piece I wrote for Sassy Mama Hong Kong.
The Pluviophile Writer 
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