Tea and Tea Drinking

Reade, ArthurProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.5

Word count: 184K words
Chapters: 19

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Tea and Tea Drinking by Arthur ReadeAuthor: Reade, Arthur,Language: English, Class: TX: Technology: Home economics, Release Date: Jul 1, 2014

Editor's review

This is an old English book about tea and the culture of tea drinking, made available as a free ebook by Project Gutenberg. Its value lies not in practical tea-making instruction but in the earlier perspective it offers: starting from the everyday drinking of tea, it touches on a corner of household economy and dietary life, making it suitable for readers interested in the history of food culture and old English lifestyle literature. The book is in English, and its length and style carry the flavor of old-time essays and informative narration; reading it feels more like leafing through a historical slice of tea-drinking habits than consulting a modern tea-science textbook. Its strengths are its approachable subject and low barrier to entry; readers can use it to compare today's various claims about tea and sense how lifestyles and ways of writing have changed. It suits reading on an electronic device in short sessions and works as a relatively light volume of English reading material. One caveat: the content reflects the knowledge and context of the era in which it was written and should not be used as a contemporary guide to tea science or tea ceremony.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in the history of food culture and everyday life
English learners looking for easy old texts to practice reading
Readers who enjoy the topic of tea and want to learn about older narratives of tea drinking
People who need free public-domain ebooks for leisure reading

Not a good fit for

Those hoping to systematically learn modern tea ceremony and brewing techniques
Readers who need contemporary tea science or industry data
People unaccustomed to reading English and unwilling to look up words

Reading tips

First read through the table of contents and preface to grasp the scope of topics before deciding which chapters to read closely.
Mark old-fashioned expressions or unfamiliar words as you go, and look them up after finishing a whole section.
Read alongside modern books on tea culture, noting the differences in historical context.
Use the ebook's search function to jump to tea-drinking topics of interest by keyword.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book about tea-ceremony techniques?

No. It is more of an informative, essay-style narrative about tea and tea-drinking habits, rooted in the context of its era, and does not offer step-by-step instruction or brewing parameters for modern tea ceremony. If you want to learn specific tea-ceremony techniques, choose a contemporary tea-science or tea-ceremony textbook instead.

How difficult is the English?

It is an old text in the lifestyle-and-culture genre. Sentences are mostly plain, but there are old-fashioned expressions and period terms. Basic English reading ability is enough to try; skip unfamiliar words at first and look them up after a paragraph rather than struggling over every word.

Why recommend reading an old book?

The value of an old book is the historical perspective it offers. Readers can see how people in an earlier period talked about tea and everyday drinking, then compare that with today's accounts, thereby understanding changes in lifestyle and in how knowledge is expressed—more interesting than simply acquiring practical tips.

Is it suitable to read from cover to cover?

You can, but there is no need to insist on it. It is better suited to reading by interest: look at the table of contents first, start with sections related to everyday tea drinking and family life, then use the search function to expand. This keeps the reading burden light and makes it easier to stay interested.

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About the author

Reade, Arthur Author · British

Arthur Reade was a British writer about whom relatively little is publicly known; neither his dates nor his educational background are clearly documented. One work by him is held in the collection, Tea and Tea Drinking, a book concerned with the customs and culture of tea drinking and belonging to writing on everyday life. Other sources mention that he also wrote a work on Finnish history and society, suggesting that his interests were not confined to a single field and that his writing touched on both social customs and the study of individual countries. Reade's writing tends toward informative summary and plain narration, introducing specific topics to general readers in a practical rather than ostentatious style. Because biographical material is scarce, the details of his life are difficult to establish, and attention to him and his books among scholars and readers has been comparatively limited; his existing works are cited more as specialist material than discussed as classics.