Learning Tea? Books and Videos I Recommend

1. Videos

1. "Tea: The Story of a Leaf"

It is a documentary exploring world tea culture directed by Wang Chongxiao. The documentary "Tea" is divided into six parts, each 50 minutes long, presenting the story of tea from the perspectives of types, history, spread, and production. The themes of the six episodes are "The Warmth of Land and Hands," "The End of the Road," "The Matter of Boiling Water and Brewing Tea," "Time Stops for Tea," "Hometown, Other Places," and "A Bowl of Tea Soup Shows Human Feelings." It starts from the tea leaves nurtured by the land, to people's unceasing search for tea, and then to savoring the fragrance of brewed tea.

1. "Tea World China"

Tea originates from the ancient East, is China's national drink, and is the most iconic cultural symbol. The production team of "Tea World China" spent three years traveling 300,000 kilometers to trace the pulse of Chinese tea and seek the way of craftsmanship. For the first time, the team deeply visited the most representative origin places of Chinese tea, went both at home and abroad, filmed nearly a hundred tea people, interpreted tea from a new perspective, sought the most authentic taste of tea, clarified the origin of tea, and displayed China's cultural confidence.

1. "The Road of Tea"

This film was broadcast on CCTV Documentary Channel. The Tea Road was a trade route mainly for tea, witnessing the commercial exchanges between Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty and Peter the Great of Russia. It tells the story of the two countries with different cultural backgrounds, their rulers each harboring their own thoughts, and how this important trade route developed after its opening, as well as the historical fate of China and Russia hidden in the tea trade. Three experiencers were selected from China, Russia, and Mongolia to search for the ruins and relics of the Tea Road, the forms of tea trade, and the stories and folk customs related to tea from their perspectives, leading the audience to retrace this tea journey.

1. "Simon Reeve's Tea Journey"

This film was broadcast on CCTV, telling the story of Simon, an adventurer and journalist.

1. "Fate with Tea"

Under the guidance of the China Tea Marketing Association and the China Tea Science Society, this is a large-scale documentary produced by Hong Kong Health TV. The film was inscribed by Zhang Tianfu, a 103-year-old tea master, aiming to sort out the entire tea industry and seek to discover and showcase the best tea in the world. Starting from the "fate with tea," it blends emotion into tea, explores ancient tea affairs, and allows ordinary audiences to understand various tea types, brands, tea ceremonies, and diverse tea-drinking customs.

1. "Victoria's Tea with Friends"

Although China is the world's largest tea producer, when it comes to tea addiction, it is the British who are unmatched. This documentary explains the love-hate relationship between the British and tea in a humorous way, often making you laugh out loud while appreciating the long and profound tea culture.

1. "The Ancient Tea Horse Road"

The Ancient Tea Horse Road was an international commercial channel in southwest China using horse caravans as the main means of transportation. It is a corridor for economic and cultural exchanges among ethnic groups in southwest China. It is a very special regional name and a tourist route with the most spectacular natural scenery and the most mysterious culture in the world, containing inexhaustible cultural heritage.

1. "AnHui Tea V"

A tea culture documentary produced by BTV, specifically about famous teas from Anhui. It consists of two episodes, respectively telling about Huangshan Maofeng, Lu'an Guapian, Taiping Houkui, and Keemun black tea, detailing their shapes, colors, soup colors, effects, and production processes.

1. "Wuyi Mountain Tea Culture"

This documentary tells about the culture of Dahongpao and Wuyi rock tea in Wuyi Mountain, from "Asking Tea in Wuyi" to "The Road of Ten Thousand Miles of Tea," leading us into the tea culture of Wuyi Mountain in an all-round way, and showing the elegance of Dahongpao, the noble symbol of Wuyi rock tea.

1. Cultural Books

1. "The Tea War"

It is a book published by Huazhong University of Science and Technology Press in 2012, written by Zhou Chonglin and Tai Junlin.