Imagine traveling back in time and giving Marco Polo the ability to produce photographs of his travels. What would he have snapped pictures of? Would Marco have been more interested in creating a resource, or of chronicling his personal experience?
4 World-Famous Chinese Green Teas moves between personal chronicle of Jason C. S. Chen, and a record of tea as it stands today.
Chen has motivations in both directions. His family has roots in one of the regions. Additionally, Chen’s own tea company, C. C. Fine Tea. Jason’s site and book attest to his company’s ownership of (or partnership with) gardens in the areas he describes.
The book’s content tips the scales toward more image than written word, considering many of the textual pages are duplicate in English and Chinese.
But what written content there is reveals technical information not easily found in other sources. For example, Chen records key data on dragon well (long jing) green tea production:
- annual output and acreage (ca. 2011)
- key village areas of production
- varietals associated with those village regions
- grades/classes of finished leaf
- Harvest
- Processing stages
- Scenic views and historic landmarks of the area
- Tasting and brewing
Walker Tea Review- a tea blog with tea reviews and tea tastings.
Want to see a tea reviewed? Contact me: jason@walkerteareview.com
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