The Ancient Art of Tea: Wisdom from the old Chinese tea masters

- By Warren Peltier

It is on days like these: Cold, grey and dismal, that one keenly desires to snuggle up with a hot cup of tea, and a good book to read.

When I came across this book, I was initially thrown off by the forward and introduction chapters. And had assumed that this book would be another academic treatise not worth the effort.

But thankfully, in my gratitude, I was proven wrong.

It turned out to be a very useful little book that I kept in my bag as I travelled from place to place. Using the travel time to learn from amongst the pages interesting facts about tea and tea culture from the past.

Some of these facts had been on my find for some time. And until his book, I could not find the answers to them. Not even using the internet, which is where most of us turn to first nowadays.

While I wished that the Chinese characters were directly included beside the Chinese terms in the body of the text for direct straight referencing, I am glad the academic footnotes were left to the end of the book. Thereby allowing the reader to keep reading.

It is such a tiny point, but it left the impression upon me that Warren Peltier truly knows his subject inside and out, without having to find out that he's lived in China for 18 years. 

For those into Chinese tea culture, this book The Ancient Art of Tea by Warren Peltier deserves to be a key reference book in anybody's library collection.