Book Review: The Tea Book by Linda Gaylard

The Tea Book
Author: Linda Gaylard
(Fellow Torontonian and blogger on the site http://theteastylist.com/)

The Tea Book is a basic introduction to tea and tissanes (herbal/fruit infusions) with lots and lots of recipes for hot and cold teas and tea cocktails.  When I first picked up the book, it was thinner than other books I have and I was curious as to whether there would be enough info in the book given there were also more tea recipes than other books about tea.

A pleasant read, Linda does a good job at highlighting important points and summarizing key information.  It's a good intro to tea; the history, customs, growing regions, and brewing.  Definitely enough info for beginners and those with a general interest in tea but, did lack on depth if you already know the basics or are looking for more detailed info on a type or region of tea.  (Her website actually has more depth of info like this Jasmine tea post where she traveled to Fuzhou or some interesting tidbits of tea history.)  The book does have a little more info on tissanes than other books so would also be of interest to those that would like to learn a bit more about this area. 

I actually read this a couple of months ago but was holding back on posting a review because I wanted to try a couple of recipes.  Unfortunately, I didn't try the recipes due to lack of time and a few that I wanted to try required one or two ingredients that I just didn't have on hand at the time. I'm also more of a straight tea drinker when I'm home. If I do get around to trying the ones I did note down, I'll be sure to update.  There were several interesting ones and Linda does have a recipe for taro bubble tea made from fresh taro for all the bubble tea lovers!  Oh, also if you like chai tea, there's one in there that looks promising....


What I liked...

- Lots of recipes for tea beverages!  Most tea books have recipes for tea infused foods but this one is all about mixing beverages....有很多泡茶放發
- Not as "dry" to read as some other books, with some good visuals....圖片還好
- Great for beginners...適合初學茶的朋友

Example of the visuals and easy to read formatting

Overall, I'd still recommend this book for beginners or tea enthusiasts that want a load of tea beverage recipes.  If you're a tea book collector, this would also be a good resource because of it's easy to read format and you could always refer back to the recipes if the occasion arises.