The True History of Tea

Did he not say otherwise in the acknowledgements, I would have suspected that Professor Mair wrote this book as an excuse to write Appendix C on the origins of the words for Tea in the worlds' languages. China learned tea drinking from Austro-Asiatic speakers from what is now Northeastern Myanmar and Yunnan province and spread the drink and its name throughout the world in two pronunciations, overland to Tibet, central Asia and beyond via the Silk Road as variants of “Cha” and oversea via European traders as variants of “Tea”. Appendix C goes on in ecstatic technical delight and was one of my favorite parts of the book - but the most of the book, jointly researched by Professor Mair and journalist Erling Hoh and largely drafted by Mr. Hoh, tells the story of Tea and its deep and widespread impact world-wide: Tea profoundly affected the culture of the Middle Kingdom and the people under Chinese cultural sway; played a major role in the relationship between the Chinese Kingdom and the Mongol and other Asiatic tribes with whom it struggled for centuries; impacted the Turkic and European empires, shaped and was shaped by Victorian England, triggered the Opium War and launched the American Revolution; was part of the industrial revolution, the rise of mass marketing, and saw the end of the age of sail in the beautiful Tea Clippers, last of the great trading sailing vessels.

It was almost impossible to put the book down - it is detailed, enthralling, beautifully written, and fascinating.

And I drank an awful lot of tea while reading it…