A face may have the power to launch a thousand ships, but I bet a good book can inspire more recipes! I named my green tea liqueur Tea Chocolate, Liquid Jade in honor of Beatrice Hohenegger’s lovely book on tea. Enjoy!
Liquid Jade: The Story of Tea from East to West
By Beatrice Hohenegger
St Martin’s Press
Liquid Jade was given to me as a Christmas present several years ago where it served as my introduction to reading texts on tea. The author, Beatrice Hohenegger, did not come to her present day interest in tea by being smitten with the beverage itself, as is likely the case for authors on the subject. Instead it was her research into the British colonial trade of opium that brought her to tea.
The relationship between tea and opium is a rather sad chapter in tea’s history. Opium was introduced to China and exchanged for tea. It led to an unfortunate clash of cultures between East and West and certainly showed the power that the tea trade had to change the course of history.
Yet, during the course of her studies the author discovered that tea itself had undergone a profound transformation over the course of its history- a transformation that had played a significant role in shaping the development of Asian cultures.
The author’s interest in tea thus expanded to include tea’s ancient and extensive pre-colonial history, as well as modern issues surrounding tea ranging from the subject of fair trade to recent scientific interest in the health benefits of tea.
Liquid Jade is thus a particularly comprehensive guide to tea. The author displays a great breadth of information on her subject, and has managed to bring together a wide selection of topics on tea covering tea lore, the development of tea culture in China, the export of tea beyond China’s borders, the novel cultural traditions that evolved abroad, as well as contemporary issues regarding fair trade and health.
Perhaps because of her background as a researcher my initial thought was how charting the history of items such as tea, coffee, or sugar serves as a brilliant way for learning about the changes that were taking place on the world stage between the 15th to 20th centuries. As reading history has become an interest I have taken to over the past few years I particularly enjoyed the background she brought to the study of tea. I also found the depth of detail concerning tea’s ancient history to be more comprehensive than any other resource I have encountered to date.
Overall I found the book very well written and a pleasure to read with beautiful poems and interesting historical quotes and anecdotes opening each chapter. A great read for anyone looking for a comprehensive look at the history of tea. As a side note- if you are interested in learning about the different varieties of tea and their flavour profiles you are better off finding a text on the tea classification.
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Lovely review, looks like a beautiful book.