The Joy of Sipping

If James Norwood Pratt had not thrown himself too eagerly into his research as a wine critic, we would not have his urbane and informative book, “New Tea Lover’s Treasury” (Publishing Technology Associates; $24.95). As Pratt delicately explains in the introduction, “I proved unequal to the sacrifice of sobriety required.” Exiting wine, he took up tea, only to find greater delights and new lands to explore. An early result was Pratt’s “The Tea Lover’s Treasury,” published in 1982.

This new book benefits from almost two decades of additional study. Although Pratt frankly states that “a tea lover who is not elitist fares poorly,” he is not a snobbish writer but one gifted in making history entertaining.

Even coffee drinkers will find much to absorb them in Pratt’s account of tea’s spread from its origins in China. The machinations of England’s East India Co. in addicting the Chinese to opium in order to gain currency with which to buy tea are startling. For romance, what could surpass the breathtaking races of the clipper ships transporting tea from China to England? The record for that voyage was 89 days in 1869.

Old novels sometimes mention caravan teas sipped by the elite. These teas were carried by camel from the Chinese frontier to Moscow in caravans that, in their heyday, numbered thousands of animals. The caravan trade ended with the completion of the Trans-Siberian Railroad in 1900.

British taxation doomed early America’s regard for the beverage, leading to the Boston Tea Party of 1773, which clogged the harbor with the contents of 342 chests. One acceptable but vile-tasting alternative was a brew of dried raspberry leaves.

Tea’s history occupies more than half of Pratt’s book, and one hates to leave it behind for the remainder, which reviews tea-growing areas--chiefly China, Taiwan, Japan, India and Sri Lanka. However, this is fascinating too.

Although Darjeeling is a byword for great tea, few are acquainted with the challenges of producing it and the temperamental nature of Darjeeling “vintages.” Sri Lanka’s tea industry grew out of a blight in the mid-19th century that killed its coffee crop. The visionary who snapped up failed plantations was Glasgow-born tea immortal Thomas J. Lipton.

Pratt concludes with a chapter on how to brew tea, which packages chemistry with romance and tradition. “Taking tea is a moment of windless calm amidst the bluster of daily events,” he writes.

How could one resist such a beverage, especially since it is said to be healthful too. This is one aspect that Pratt chooses not to explore. “I think I resist telling people tea is good for them for fear they will enjoy it less,” he says.