Mary Lou and Robert promise to take you on an exploration of the world of premium tea. After years of selling tea and traveling they want to share everything they've discovered. Most of all they want you to feel assured when purchasing, preparing and storing your tea.

This really is a handbook about tea and tea leaves, so don't expect to find mention of teabags here. The authors believe herbal teas, herbal infusions and tisanes are not true teas, so you won't be enlightened about them either.

The authors write about tea from the various Asian countries. They go into detail about growing, picking, rolling and producing of tea. Readers will also discover how important water quality, steeping time, and storage can be. I know I did.

There are six classes of tea listed. The authors include a Gallery of Tea with each class. (Green Tea, Yellow Tea, White Tea, Oolong Tea, Black Tea, and Pu-reh Tea). The authors go over various materials for containers. I like the idea of using glass—the better to see such a beautiful product. Included are beautiful pictures of the various countries, the tea leaves, various types of containers and clear cups of prepared tea with tea leaves lying beside the cups. In the back readers will find a gold mine of both online and brick and mortar tea shops.

Tea drinkers will glom so much from this hand book. If you're not a tea drinker, one read through will show you what you're missing.