Seeking Tea-Themed Films and Books

I'd have to give a vote for The Karate Kid, Part II. (

)

I'm sure it is not what you are looking for but when I think of tea in film, it is always #1 for me.

- Dominic

Cool! I had no idea there was a Puget Sound Tea Association. As a tea-lover and occasional tea-seller in northern Puget Sound I'd love to be involved, but Google doesn't show a result under that name -- is there a site for your group yet?.

There is a series of hour-long travel documentaries made for Chinese TV that cover tea-producing regions that I'd recommend. I found a number of them subtitled in DVD stores in Richmond B.C. for just over $10 each. There's one called "Wuyi Mountain" (home of Da Hong Pao - one of my favorites!), one called "Wuxi Is A Beautiful City" (briefly covers Yixing), and a number of others focusing on specific mountains. They also had an absolutely beautiful full-length documentary called "Cha Ma Gu Dao" listed as a 2006 film by Tian Zhuangzhuang, on the subject of the Tea Horse Road, but my copy has no subtitles.

With regard to tea books, I think a number of folk would recommend "Liquid Jade: The Story of Tea From East To West" by Beatrice Hohenegger (ISBN: 0-312-33328-5) as an excellent thorough introduction to tea culture and history for beginners. Another good one for tea newbies is "Origins of Tea and Wine" a short but detail-rich comic- bookish volume by Asiapac Comic (ISBN: 981-229-369-8).

I've also loved reading the mid-19th century travel journals of Robert Fortune (aka the "Tea Thief") as he journeyed undercover through China's tea-producing regions gathering tea plant samples for the East India Company at a time when the country was barred to foreigners. They're hard to find but Amazon is currently carrying them.

-Charles

This probably doesn't qualify, but I want to share it here anyway. Kurosawa's 1951 interpretation of "The Idiot" is as exquisite and powerful as any of his work, and as bleak and honest as his darkest. One of the few relatively upbeat scenes is when the title character's dubious friend's senile mother serves them tea just about halfway through the film. It's the most unaffectedly delicate depiction of the act as service, sharing, family ritual, retreat to center and transcendence that I've seen on celluloid. Interesting technique, too.

-DM

Charles, is there any chance you could offer some more info on these DVDs? A manufacturer, exact title, UPC, anything? I'd be very interested in trying to locate them.

Thanks,

- Dominic

P.S. Also, one of my favorite TV chefs, Yan Can Cook, would feature tea in a number of his newer shows on PBS both in his cooking as well as wonderful interludes where he would travel to a number of places and people and it was very informative and real. There was one in particular where a Taoist master prepares tea in an old style where he uses a wheel to crush the tea into a powder and then brews it cold. I have them all on my DVR, I'll have to convert them at some point since the show is no longer on.

The DVD packaging is scarce on English, but the DVD's seem to be produced by Shanghai Listen Audio & Video Co., Ltd.

but no English on the site). Both DVDs I have list the series name as "Journey in China" with a note that it is a "TV documentary series featuring one hundred cities in China". "Wu Yi Mountain" has a title code of CDVD-179, an ISBN of 7-7999-1719-9, and UPC of

9-787799-917191. "Wuxi Is A Beautiful City" has a title code of LD-0005, an ISBN of 7-88420-003-1 and UPC of 9-787884-200030.

Ah, a quick Google on the ISBN shows one site carrying these online:

I also see on this site a title on Hangzhou West Lake, home of Lung Ching teas, the national Chinese tea museum, and over 700 tea houses.

Keep us updated on how the planning for the fall tea festival is going!

-Charles

Another suggestion, albeit a somewhat odd one and one that I can't vouch for personally: a large mainstream wholesaler, The Metropolitan Tea Company, just offered in their new catalog a set of training CDs containing photo-rich tea-travel Powerpoints. They claim to cover tea growing, manufacturing, and marketing. They can be bought individually or as a set and seem to be reasonably priced.

The topics: Kenya - Nandi and Kericho Sri Lanka - Lovers Leap Estate, Nuwara Eliya Taiwan - Spring Pouchong Taiwan - Dung Ti Oolong China - Pai Mu Tan White Tea China - Yunnan Pu-erh China - Fujian Wuyi Rock Oolong & Tong Mu Pheonix Tree Lapsang Souchong China - Yunnan Artisan Tea India - Darjeeling, Margret's Hope India - Organic Assam

Anyone here had a chance to see these CDs yet? Would they be suitable for a tea festival, or even for personal tea-knowledge expansion?

I am a huge fan of Tan Dun, a Chinese composer living in/between China and Manhattan, whose compositions are influenced by both Chinese and Western classical music. One of his compositions is very much related to tea. It is an opera called Tea: A Mirror of Soul. The opera which is a love story between a Japanese prince and a Chinese princess was - according to Deutsche Grammophon's website - partly inspired by Lu Yu's Book of Tea.

The performance of the opera is available on DVD:

30999

I have not yet seen this film, but I did see another very interesting DVD about the making of the opera. The film is called Tan Dun: Tea.

In the film the composer shares among other things his views about tea in Chinese and Japanese society. The film also contains some touching scenes of a Japanese tea ceremony and of a rural Chinese family enjoying some fresh green tea.

Gyorgy

Hi Michael, Any episode of Star Trek TNG inolves tea, mostly Earl Grey... You know the rest. I even saw a "Klingon Tea Ceremony" that rocked. Jenn

It think my first exposure to tea ceremonies and the notion that tea was something special was from watching the Shogun mini-series. I haven't seen it since I was a teenager though, so it may not be as applicable as my memory suggests. :-)

In the new BBC series based on the books of Alexander McCall Smith - The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, Bush Tea (what is that? Rooibos?) plays an important role in the show as mediating bridge, 2 connect, 2 pour out problems, etc.

In Fearless, a chinese movie, the hero discusses some cool deep stuff with a Japanese opponent over a cup of tea, near the end of the film.

There is also an episode on Brothers & Sisters in which a girl made mocha in a bowl & explained 2 Sally Field the essence of tea ceremony, any1 know which epi is that?

kevo

there's a couple tv "documentaries" that were on tea, don't remember how good they were, one was on Modern Marvels, one was on Good Eats

There was a popular television show in Korea, and also aired here in China, also very popular in China; called ????. I think the English title is "Girls on the Top". It was a very long episodic drama series, and also very cool. Just about every episode shows mainly concubines of the emperor, drinking tea from a celadon tea set, while plotting how to do away with the crown-prince so that their own son could get the throne.

The title sounds naughty...

Kevo

I second a look at that Fearless reference, if nothing else the gaiwans were really cool. :) I kept wondering where they got them, they were much bigger than I was used to (The gaiwans).

Melinda