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Tea

By Lydia Gautier
Photographs by Jean-Francois Mallet

8-11/16 x 11-7/8 in; 192 pp ; full-color photographs throughout
Hardcover
Published in October, 2006
ISBN 0811856828
ISBN13 9780811856829

$40.00  

Tea -- Prepare for a richly exotic voyage across continents and centuries in this in-depth exploration of the world of tea. Like wine, tea has its own prestigious growing regions and plantations where are produced refined, noble, and modern varieties as distinctive as the terroir on which they are grown. This impressive volume follows the trade routes of the familiar yet mysterious tea leaf, from the origins of cultivation in China to Japan's legendary tea ceremony to the ritual of afternoon tea in the U.K. Practical advice describes the benefits of tea in the diet, the optimum brewing temperature, and precise measurements for steeping the perfect cup. Profiles of the Grand Crus of tea (32 worldwide varieties) plus recipes that pair well with tea or have tea as an ingredient are also featured. Rich and sumptuous photographs lead us through this ancient but still contemporary pursuit that reaches from remote Asian villages to exotic islands to today's modern cities. Tea is a book to be savored with all the senses.

Lydia Gautier is an agricultural engineer and graduate (specializing in tropical agronomy) of the Paris-Grignon National Agricultural Institute; she has worked in the world of oenology in France and Peru. She collaborated in the creation of the Ecole du Thé at the Palais de Thé in Paris, for which she has designed and led talks, tastings, and training for professionals in the perfume, cosmetics, hotel catering, and wine industries. She is currently pursuing her research into tea and ethnogastronomy in Mali, where she has lived for the past three years.

After graduating at the top of his class from the Ecole Supérieure de Cuisne, Jean-Francois Mallet went on to work with some of the great chefs. He is now a food and travel photographer. As in his previous books, he approaches gastronomy with the masterly touch of a great reporter. Mallet is a regular contributor to Saveur and Gourmet magazines.