The Book of Tea by Kakuzō Okakura
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A classic worth reading that tells everything about TEA and its origin. ‘Tea’, a native drink from China has reached all over the world and is now considered as the most highly consumed liquid after water, by human beings. This Oriental drink is considered sacred by the East due to its colour, odour, taste and medicinal characteristics. It was officially introduced to the European countries in the sixteenth century. It is surprising to learn through this book that teaism has its own schools of evolution, The Boiled Tea (Caked Tea), The Whipped Tea (Powdered Tea) and The Steeped Tea (Leaf Tea), representing the spirit of age they prevailed during the Tang, The Ming and The Sung dynasties of China respectively. Also called as Tou, Tseh, Chung, Kha, Cha and Ming, this drink was highly prized for possessing the virtues of relieving fatigue, delighting the soul, prevent drowsiness, strengthening the will, repairing the eyesight and alleviate rheumatic pains. “Chaking” – the Holy scripture of Tea, written by the famous Chinese poet Luwuh, details everything about the tea plant and its leaves, method of identifying an gathering the suitable leaves for best quality tea and finally the making of the beverage from how to boil to how to drink.
Tea has become a religion of the art of life in Japan also, where it grew to be an excuse for the worship of purity and refinement. Both Taosim and Zennism are said to be associated with the spirit of Tea and entire Chinese ideology seemed to have been influenced by this golden beverage. Finally, the importance and sanctity of a Tea Room (the Sukiya) in the Chinese and Japanese cultures is very impressive. Flowers and their arrangement in the Oriental homes also is linked to the great spiritual depths of knowledge nurtured by great emperors of China like Huensang. The birth and the Art of Flower Arrangement has been simultaneous with that of Teaism in the fifth century. The link is well established by the great Tea masters of China and Japan as a distinct religion by itself.

Pros: The philosophy entwined behind the great history of Tea is mind boggling. No one would ever think that a whole set of ideologies revolved around Chinese dynasties through the influence of Tea. The simplicity of the Oriental cultures is attributed to the doctrine of Teaism in contrast to the explicit display of riches in Western culture. The beauty of flowers and their service to mankind was really fantastic. It is astonishing to learn that all the celebrated gardens of Japan were laid out by its tea masters once upon a time. Even great arts like pottery, textile designing, cooking, serving, painting etc were linked to the involvement of the tea masters of the Orient – simplicity and naturalistic being the catchwords. Nice to learn about the Tea Conferences of Japan.

Cons: There is a lot of philosophy and spiritual teachings included in this book which doesn’t seem to have much relevance to Teaism. It only seemed to have been fitted in for better presentation of the book.

My rating is 2.5 out of 5


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