It is a well-established fact that I like books. It’s almost equally well-established that I like drinking tea. So it would seem logical that I like books about tea.

This isn’t generally the case, however. All those shiny coffee-table (hah!) books with titles like “The Teas of the World” or “The World of Tea” or “Tea: The World” tend to leave me quite cold. Kakuzo Okazura’s The Book of Tea is a different type of book altogether.

Published a few months after the end of Russo-Japanese war and written by a Western-educated son of a samurai, it’s more an essay on Japanese civilization than a book about tea (there’s still plenty about tea, no worries). It’s a slim volume and makes for a quick and delightful read.

The Book of Tea is the perfect accompaniment to a cup of high-quality matcha. Or a cup of Twining’s Earl Grey with milk and sugar. I don’t discriminate.