Ebook: The True History of Tea

Prologue: Tea : leaf of awareness -- A botanical excursion : the rivals of tea -- The heartstrings of national pride : Southeast Asia and the origins of tea -- A slave of yoghurt : tea in the 1st to 6th centuries -- Go have some tea! : the Tang dynasty -- Cloudy feet in a hare's fur cup : the Song dynasty -- Buying peace with the celestial beverage : the tea and horse trade -- The taste of zen is tea : Japan in the 12th to 15th centuries -- Sen Rikyū the tea master : the perfection of the Japanese tea ceremony -- Han Xin counts the soldiers : tea in the Ming and Qing -- How the Dalai Lama got his name : brick tea in Tibet and Mongolia -- We invented the samovar! : the Russian caravan tea trade -- Conquering new lands : the Islamic world of tea -- Approved by physicians : the advent of tea in Europe -- The progress of this famous plant : tea and the opium wars -- A master teapot maker's midnight ride : tea in America -- Finest tippy golden flowery orange pekoe : India and Ceylon in the 19th century -- The heyday of the clipper ships : British tea -- Vignettes from the global village : tea in our time -- Appendix A: The autobiography of instructor Lu -- Appendix B: A debate between tea and beer -- Appendix C: A genealogy of words for tea.;"The True History of Tea brings these disparate aspects together in an entertaining tale that combines solid scholarship with an eye for the quirky, offbeat paths that tea has strayed upon during its long voyage.' - - Provided by publisher.