Jane Pettigrew World of Tea - Book Review + Giveaway

As luck would have it, this week I received my Tea Sommelier certificate and my children start school. In honor of all of this school news, I am delighted to share my review and a giveaway of Jane Pettigrew's new book, World of Tea.

World of Tea is Pettigrew's 18th book and her longest at 434 pages. You could read it cover to cover. It's worthwhile to do so even if you've been a longtime student of tea. Pettigrew's writing is anything but dry so don't worry that you'll be treated to a dull read about the world of tea. You could approach the book as a lively reference and use the excellent Table of Contents or Index to guide your journey.

The book is divided into seven chapters. The first chapter is an introduction to the basics of tea: origin species and cultivars, terror, harvesting, processing, storage, and preparation. You may have read these elementary aspects of tea in other books before, but Pettigrew makes them seem fresh again. I especially like the graphic representation of how different categories of tea are processed.

The remaining six chapters cover the world. A chapter is dedicated to each continent on which tea is grown: North America, South America (Central America is included here and not with North America), Africa, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. These six chapters are where Pettigrew's expertise really shines. The reader is presented with a staggering amount of detail about teas in each region in each country in each continent. Those details include number of gardens, total area of cultivation, terrain, altitude, main cultivars, types of tea, and more. The chapter on Asia is over 200 pages long. Furthermore, Pettigrew tells the story of how tea arose in each place. So many stories! Did you know that a five-acre experimental tea plot was planted in Washington, DC in the 1850s?

Related: United States of Tea - Mauna Kea Tea, Hawaii

I have found a new gold standard for tea books. It's World of Tea by Jane Pettigrew. Enter the giveaway below to win a copy for your library.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A copy of World of Tea by Jane Pettigrew was provided for review.