The Chinese Art of Tea

by John Blofeld

Drawing on Chinese legend, anecdotes, and poetry, in addition to his travels in China, the author presents a history of tea as well as instructions for the purchase, storage, and preparation of the popular beverage

Genres: Tea, Food, Nonfiction, China, Food and Drink, History

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

John Eaton Calthorpe Blofeld (M.A., Literature, University of Cambridge, 1946) wrote on Asian thought and religion, especially Taoism and Chinese Buddhism. During WWII, he working in counterintelligence for the British Embassy in Chongqing (Chungking), China, as a cultural attaché. In the 1950s, he studied with Dudjom Rinpoche and other Nyingma teachers in Darjeeling, India. He later mentored Red Pine in his translation work.

Reviews

[Guillemette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it in french (but didn't find it on here). Thouroughly enjoyable read for tea lovers, though probably a bit outdated now. Still learned a lot.
I was really annoyed by all the weird and useless sexist comments about "pretty girls" all the time which is why I removed a star (and hesitated removing two).

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

As much as I like and respect Blofeld, his strengths don't lie with tea. In 1985, much of the current tea knowledge and scholarship wasn't widely accessible, so I'm trying not to be too harsh with Blofeld, but some of his comments in the book are true misgivings. Not only does he glosses over critical periods for the "art of tea," but some of his comments ring rather dismissive, which strikes me as strange for someone cultivating the way of tea.

But maybe, the most obvious vibe I picked from the book is that Blofeld, despite being a tea drinker for "fifty" years, is not a "tea man" by any stretch of the word, and it shows in his second-hand knowledge and comments. Many of the stories he mentions, especially his own experiences (aka travel log), are quite entertaining, and his spiritual Dao take is also very good, but sadly, that accounts for a rather small amount of this book.

[Tim Weakley · Rating 3 out of 5]

The strength of this book is in it's collected information. I didn't care for all of the personal anecdotes. The author seemed to think of himself as a ladies man and I really couldn't care less about that aspect of his "tea" knowledge. If you can get past that, then there is a lot of good information on varieties, history of, and prepartion of classic Chinese teas. When the author sticks to the history of tea in Chinese culture the book is at it's strongest. Unfortunatly it seems to have become very dated now.

[Lynn Flewelling · Rating 5 out of 5]

While dated, this book gives a window into pre-WWII China and the tea culture that thrived there. There is very good information about various varieties of orthodox tea that still holds true and makes it a useful reference.

[Mathblgr · Rating 2 out of 5]

My second book on the topic of Tea/Chinese tea. The book wasn't that insightful, and the writing feel a bit outdated. Beside, as someone who can read Chinese, I had difficulty getting right the Chinese with the old transcription method, but note that there is a comparison table between old and new Chinese transcription in the appendix, good to know if other like me have difficulties getting some names right.

[Ani · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a very readable and enjoyable book. In particular the legends and stories. However, I found it to be dated and some of the information, such as about puerh tea, inaccurate or incomplete. Still worth reading as long as you take those sections with a grain of salt and refer to a more current book on Chinese tea.