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Title details for Liquid Jade by Beatrice Hohenegger - Available

Liquid Jade

The Story of Tea from East to West

by Beatrice Hohenegger
ebook
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Traveling from East to West over thousands of years, tea has played a variety of roles on the world scene – in medicine, politics, the arts, culture, and religion. Behind this most serene of beverages, idolized by poets and revered in spiritual practices, lie stories of treachery, violence, smuggling, drug trade, international espionage, slavery, and revolution.
Liquid Jade's rich narrative history explores tea in all its social and cultural aspects. Entertaining yet informative and extensively researched, Liquid Jade tells the story of western greed and eastern bliss. China first used tea as a remedy. Taoists celebrated tea as the elixir of immortality. Buddhist Japan developed a whole body of practices around tea as a spiritual path. Then came the traumatic encounter of the refined Eastern cultures with the first Western merchants, the trade wars, the emergence of the ubiquitous English East India Company. Scottish spies crisscrossed China to steal the secrets of tea production. An army of smugglers made fortunes with tea deliveries in the dead of night. In the name of "free trade" the English imported opium to China in exchange for tea. The exploding tea industry in the eighteenth century reinforced the practice of slavery in the sugar plantations. And one of the reasons why tea became popular in the first place is that it helped sober up the English, who were virtually drowning in alcohol. During the nineteenth century, the massive consumption of tea in England also led to the development of the large tea plantation system in colonial India – a story of success for British Empire tea and of untold misery for generations of tea workers.
Liquid Jade also depicts tea's beauty and delights, not only with myths about the beginnings of tea or the lovers' legend in the familiar blue-and-white porcelain willow pattern, but also with a rich and varied selection of works of art and historical photographs, which form a rare and comprehensive visual tea record. The book includes engaging and lesser-known topics, including the exclusion of women from seventeenth-century tea houses or the importance of water for tea, and answers such questions as: "What does a tea taster do?" "How much caffeine is there in tea?" "What is fair trade tea?" and "What is the difference between black, red, yellow, green, or white tea?"
Connecting past and present and spanning five thousand years, Beatrice Hohenegger's captivating and multilayered account of tea will enhance the experience of a steaming "cuppa" for tea lovers the world over.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    May 1, 2024

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781466868540

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781466868540
      • File size: 7357 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      January 8, 2007
      In this lively, exhaustive survey of the history and politics of tea, Hohenegger travels from ancient Asia to 15th century Europe to present day concerns about fair trade practices and organic farming. Focusing mainly on the drink's most enthusiastic supporters, the Chinese and the British, Hohenegger uses tea to tell no less than the "the story of the traumatic encounter and clash of cultures between East and West." Trailing tea over continents and centuries as it grows in popularity and becomes a power unto itself-in the form of the East India Tea Company-Hohenegger covers an interesting mix of topics, including Zen Buddhism, the Opium Wars, the first and only "tea spy," and, of course, the rise and fall of the British Empire, each of which were integral in the beverage's journey from storied "elixir of immortality" to simple commodity. The book's third part, a series of brief discussions on topics more typically the purview of purists, such as water quality, the role of the tea tester and the ongoing debate between the opposing MIF (Milk In First) and TIF (Tea In First) camps, is surprisingly engaging. Told with authority and affection, this narrative history is a stimulating treat.

    • Library Journal

      February 15, 2007
      This work at first appears to be a historical survey, but Hoheneggerwho will curate a related traveling 2009 exhibition on tea historyoffers more of a social history of tea (with plenty of miscellany thrown into the pot). While the author does explore the emergence of the humble tea leaf as a global force, she equally touches on the aesthetic appreciation of tea in ancient and modern cultures. Often a mix of myth and history, the text, broken into short chapters, leads from Asia to Europe, weighing tea's significance through the centuries. Ancient tea ceremonies could literally be religious experiences, as well as the subject of poetry, as tea was associated with Taoism and the rise of art and culture throughout Asia. The book's integrity is difficult to maintain in the final sections, which deal with topics like the modern aspects of tea agriculture, water quality for brewing tea, and the varieties of tea available to consumers today. Overall, the author's light, humorous style is welcome and refreshing, especially when compared with other recent "microhistories" such as Betty Fussell's "The Story of Corn" and Patricia Rain's "Vanilla". Recommended only where interest is high.Elizabeth Morris, formerly with Illinois Fire Svc. Inst. Lib., Champaign

      Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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