Tea: a Nerd's Eye View

by Virginia Utermohlen Lovelace MD

This book—revised and expanded October 2020—is for all of you who love tea and want understand more about your go-to more about how and why green, yellow, white, oolong, black, and pu-erh tea all come from the same plant, Camellia sinensis. In it you’ll discover how tea grower, tea maker, and the leaf itself all work together to develop your favorite tea’s flavors. You’ll find out why some of the best teas are grown on hillsides; why most (but not all!) of the highest quality teas are made from downy buds—and what downy buds really are; why water, brewing time and temperature, and even the cup you choose matter to the flavors of your tea. On the way, you'll learn how your nose, mouth, and brain experience tea’s flavors, how the plant’s evolutionary history made it the flavor factory we enjoy today, and even why we call it “tea.”Virginia Utermohlen Lovelace MD is a physician-scientist and avowed tea nerd. As a reviewer noted of her first book, “Three Basic Teas & How to Enjoy ” “There are plenty of wonderful books on tea, it’s terroir, origin, rituals and preparation, but, so far, this is the only book on the sensory enjoyment of tea AND the science behind it…If you have a love of sensory experiences and want to understand a bit more of the wonders of flavor, this book is for you. You don’t need a vast background in tea or science to enjoy this book. Your tastebuds and your brain will thank you.”“ a Nerd’s Eye View” expands the range of “Three Basic Teas & How to Enjoy Them” to include all five types of tea—going beyond lists of teas and tasting notes to bring you the tools you need to choose and brew teas with the flavors you enjoy.

Genres: Tea

220 pages, Paperback

Published December 1, 2019

Reviews

[Paulo Ribeiro · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rather casual and conversational book about tea, written by a tea nerd for other tea nerd enthusiasts. It's packed full of satisfyingly detailed information about how we sense and taste the aromas and flavors in tea, the chemistry of tea leaves and how different processing techniques contribute to those flavors and aromas, and an in-depth analysis of all main tea types.

This self-published edition is rather rough around the edges. There are quite a few typos and editing mistakes, some bits of information are repeated, the illustrations (almost exclusively Creative Commons licensed) aren't captioned consistently, and the paper quality is lackluster. But Virginia's conversational, sometimes tongue-in-cheek tone, and the sheer amount of condensed information that you would hardly find anywhere else more than make up for it.

I recommend this book as a "tea field guide" to anyone interested in exploring and diving deep into the fascinating nuances of this wondrous beverage and associated culture.

[Alaina]

as a recovering chemistry student who grew up to love tea, i exist near the bullseye of this book's target audience. i now know the chemical makeup of the notes that i like in my teas, and how i might tailor my buying and brewing parameters to help them ring with clarity.

caveat: i've extended my trust to this self-published manuscript, and i hope that VUL had it fact checked.

[Stefan R-S · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book on the science/biology/chemistry/geography of tea - maybe a bit to much for a very casual read, but it's the nerdy stuff you're looking for if you pick up this book. It's well researched, although the author herself is not an expert or 'tea scientist', but a physician. Not up to current academic standards, but that's not really a problem.
Unfortunately, the edition/physical book is made very unprofessionaly: Editing errors, formatting errors, illegible passages because they are partially covered by images... It looks like(and probably is) something the author put together herself with ms word - no editing, no professional typesetting, too few corrections. That's a bummer, because it could be a much better book - and could probably also do with a little editing content wise.
It's hard to give this book stars because I'm very grateful this book exists and that the author created what is clearly a work of passion.

[Piotr · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half of the book (experiencing flavour, how tea plant grows) is more interesting than the second (brewing tea, overview of different types). Some information in the latter seems not very accurate, and even the author confesses she still has to learn about some tea types. I found you can get better sources on these topics in some YouTube channels. In contrast, it’s hard to find something better when it comes to topics from the first half. It’s interesting to learn how different tastes cancel each other or change depending on situation, or how aromatic compounds appear as result of the plant experiencing different types of stress.

[Alex the Edgelord · Rating 4 out of 5]

As some other reviewers noted, this is a book of two halves:

The first (and lengthier) is a detailed explanation of tea chemistry and the science behind taste and smell in humans. It provides lengthy vocabulary and theory to understand what happens when we enjoy tea and its different compounds. All in all a deep dive into the taste and smell system, organic chemistry, and biology.

The second half is about tea types across the world covering the main 6 tea types and I felt it was a bit of a letdowns, specially after her first book which was more in depth and delved into topics such as food pairings. It was over very shortly and the personal preferences of the author really showed. If she liked a given tea, it would take a few pages, if she did not, she would quickly finish the chapter admitting her own bias.

That is to say that the first part of the book could be quite dense while very informative, while the second was over too soon, and did not reach the standards set by Virginia in her first book.

Still a very recommended read for tea lovers.

[S Modi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written by one of my favorite college professors, Dr Utermohlen takes you on a journey inside the biochemistry of tea. A good compendium of tea related facts, although a little dry/redundant by the end. A bare bones, self-published book (with references/graphics from wikipedia), but a fun book nonetheless for a science-oriented tea lover.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent deep-dive on the chemical composition of tea for the layman.