Tea is for Everyone: Making Chinese Tea Accessible | Chan Sin Yan

Tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world — but how much do you know about this exquisite drink made from the Camellia sinensis plant? And how much do you know about Chinese tea, the original infusion that started it all?

If you’re an English speaker, chances are: not very much, and through no fault of your own. For various reasons (a very real language barrier being one), Chinese tea is treated as a niche category in the English-speaking world instead of the standard-bearer it deserves to be.

We’re here to change this once and for all, first by unpeeling the layers of complexity that surround the world of Chinese tea, and then by setting the record straight on some mistranslations and misconceptions that have stuck over the years. This book touches on everything that’s relevant to Chinese tea: from the history of tea to the tea-making processes that differentiate a wulong from a green tea; from the six main types to the myriad styles of teas available; from famous Chinese teagrowing regions to the latest popular teaware; from food and tea pairing advice to seasonal tea suggestions and brewing etiquette. Readers can also glean straight from the source, as tea makers from across mainland China and Taiwan share their insights on the art and business of producing tea.

Tea is for Everyone aims to bridge that treacherous gap between academic tea literature (much of which is not available in English) and the generic tea “guides” that don’t do tea or Chinese tea any justice. This book is a comprehensive and comprehensible take on a vast and complicated but endlessly fascinating subject. Tea should be for everyone, after all.