Why We Love Tea

THE ORIGINS OF TEA

Ancient times and the earliest dynasties: the dawning of tea 
The Tang dynasty: birth of the tea culture
The Song dynasty: the height of the tea culture
The Ming dynasty: tea culture, and the return to simplicity 
The Qing dynasty: the popular dimension of tea
The dissemination of tea in Europe


THE TEA PLANT
Botanics, varieties, cultivation, harvests, and diffusion 
The chemistry of tea

The healing properties of tea


THE COLORS OF TEA
Color classification of tea
Quality assessment: tea classifications and terms


THE ART OF TEA MAKING
A comparison between European and Eastern infusions


HOW TO PREPARE AND DRINK A PROPER TEA - THE MAIN FACTORS
The importance of the water, water temperature, infusion on times, choice of accessories, quantity of tea, optimal storage method for tea
The importance of the water Water temperature
Infusion times
Choice of accessories Quantity of tea
Optimal storage method for tea
The Russian art of tea making: the Samovar 
The Moroccan art of tea making: mint tea Iced tea: preparation methods


PROFESSIONAL TEA TASTING
Equipment and assessment methods 
Tea scents
Comments on the appearance of leaves 
Comments on the color of leaves 
Comments on the scent
Comments on the color of the liquor 
Comments on the taste of the liquor


GREEN TEA - CHINA
HOW TO PREPARE CHINESE GREEN TEA
HOW TO USE A GAIWAN TEACUP
A BIT OF ETIQUETTE FOR TEA DRINKING IF YOU GO TO CHINA
ANJI BAI CHA
JADE COLUMN - YU ZHU
DONG TING BI LUO CHUN
HUANG SHAN MAO FENG
HUO SHAN HUANG YA
LIU AN GUA PIAN
JASMINE PEARL - JASMINE LONG ZHO LONG JING
GREEN LYCHEE
TAI PING HOU KUI
HOW TO PREPARE BLOOMING GREEN TEAS
LU MU DAN


GREEN TEA - JAPAN
HOW TO PREPARE JAPANESE GREEN TEA 
HOW TO USE THE KYUSU TEAPOT
BANCHA KAKEGAWA 
GENMAICHA 
GYOKURO HOUJICHA
KUKICHA
SENCHA KAGOSHIMA
CHA NO YU: THE ANCIENT JAPANESE ART OF TEA MAKING MATCHA


YELLOW TEA
HOW TO PREPARE YELLOW TEA
JUN SHAN YIN ZHEN
MENG DING HUANG YA (YELLOW YA)


WHITE TEA
HOW TO PREPARE WHITE TEA
BAI HAO YIN ZHEN BAI MU DAN RUHUNA SILVER TIPS


BLUE-GREEN OR WULONG TEA - CHINA
HOW TO PREPARE WULONG TEA 
SHORT LESSON IN GONG FU CHA
DA HONG PAO
FENG HUANG DAN CONG HUANG JIN GUI
SHUI XIAN - WATER SPRITE TIE GUAN YIN


BLUE-GREEN OR WULONG TEA - TAIWAN
BAO ZHONG
DONG DING
HIGH MOUNTAIN JIN XUAN (MILKY WULONG) ORIENTAL BEAUTY
BERGAMOT WULONG
OSMANTHUS WULONG


RED TEA
CHINESE RED TEA
HOW TO PREPARE RED TEA
LAPSANG SOUCHONG - ZHENG SHAN XIAO ZHONG QIMEN
GOLDEN YUNNAN
RED MAO FENG
INDIAN AND SRI LANKAN BLACK TEA
HOW TO PREPARE BLACK TEAS ENGLISH TEA
DARJEELING CASTLETON FTGFOP1 - SF
DARJEELING GOPALDHARA FTGFOP1 - FF
DARJEELING JUNGPANA FTGFOP1 - SF WONDER MUSCATEL 
DARJEELING MARGARET’S HOPE FTGFOP1 - FF
DARJEELING SEEYOK FTGFOP1 - FF
ASSAM HATTIALLI FTGFOP1 - SF
ASSAM BANASPATY FTGFOP1 - FF
NUWARA ELIYA HIGH GROWN
RUHUNA GOLDEN TIPS
UVA HIGH GROWN


FERMENTED (OR BLACK) TEA
HOW TO PREPARE FERMENTED TEA
PU’ER SHENG CHA - CAKE 
PU’ER SHU CHA - CAKE 
PU’ER STEMS - BRICK
FU CHA TOP GRADE - BRICK


PROCESSED TEAS
SCENTED, FLAVORED, AND BLOOMING TEAS


TEA TIME AND SERVING SUGGESTIONS
20 RECIPES BY CHEF GIOVANNI RUGGIERI