Tea Blog

A few months ago in this column I mentioned The Tea Sommelier Handbook, a tome that came out in early 2013 and which was co-written by well-known tea person, Jane Pettigrew. If you need any more proof that the concept of tea sommelier is becoming a thing, then consider that a book simply titled Tea Sommelier was published near the end of that same year.

It’s written by Gabriella Lombardi, who claims the distinction of opening the first shop for quality tea in Milan, Italy. Like so many other tea books, it includes sections on preparing, tasting and serving teas, as well as a selection of recipes and advice on pairing food and tea. Also of note, “a careful examination of 50 grand cru teas—including some of the best-known varieties available.”

Another noteworthy tea person – Babette Donaldson – was profiled here a while back and is probably best known these days for her Emma Lea books, a series of children’s picture books that numbered six at last count. However Donaldson will roll out a somewhat different type of tea book in mid-2014, titled The Everything Healthy Tea Book: Discover the Healing Benefits of Tea.

I’m sure I must have mentioned How to Open and Operate a Financially Successful Coffee, Espresso and Tea Shop in these pages at some point. It’s a book that’s been around for a while but it’s worth noting that an updated second edition is about to be published, also in mid-2014.

I never realized that tea cosies were such a big deal but they are apparently enough of one that they have kept author Loani Prior busy turning out books on the topic. Prior has written several books about cosies thus far, including How Tea Cosies Changed the World, and is about to hit the shelves with another title in late summer of 2014. This time around the “tea cosy knitter extraordinaire” has bestowed a title called Pretty Funny Tea Cosies upon the reading public.

Which is probably more tea cosy books than the market can possibly accommodate – or is it? Apparently not, since yet another title will be rolled out in late 2014. That would be Easy Knitted Tea Cosies, by Lee Ann Garrett.

See more of William I. Lengeman’s articles here.

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