books of tangential M&D interest maybe

[Doug Millison]

To those of you who can't function until you've had your espresso, latte,
or plain old Maxwell House, did you know caffeine can easily pass through
cell walls and essentially into every cell in the human body? Not to
mention breast milk!

This is one of the many fascinating facts from The World of Caffeine: The
Science and Culture of the World's Most Popular Drug by Bennett Weinberg
and Bonnie Bealer (Routledge, $27.50).

In addition to coffee, the authors cover two other popular caffeine-rich
substances: tea and chocolate. Tidbits abound: in ancient Siam, a popular
snack was steamed tea leaves that had been rolled into balls, then eaten
with garlic, salted pig fat and dried fish; the first cafÈ dates back to
Paris in 1689; some enthusiasts believed tea and coffee could cure
smallpox, measles, gallstones, asthma and assorted intestinal maladies.

"With impressive felicity, Weinberg and Bealer marshal the forces of
history, chemistry, medicine, cultural anthropology, psychology, philosophy
and even a little religion to tell caffeine's complicated
storyÖfascinating, generously illustrated volume," comments The Plain
Dealer.

---

For the pure tea aficionado, the Los Angeles Times has sipped and smiled
over New Tea Lover's Treasury by James Norwood Pratt (Publishing Technology
Associates, $24.95). Pratt, a former wine critic, confesses in the
introduction: "I proved unequal to the sacrifice of sobriety required." The
book was actually first published in 1982; this new edition is enriched
with almost 20 years of additional study.

History abounds, with accounts of tea's origins in China, the growth of
England's East India Co., the races of the clipper ships running tea from
China to England--the record being 89 days in 1869--and of course, the
Boston Tea Party. We also learn that after Sri Lanka's coffee crop was
devastated by a blight in the mid-19th century, the plantations were bought
up by none other than Thomas J. Lipton--and the rest, they say is history.

"Pratt concludes with a chapter on how to brew tea, which packages
chemistry with romance and tradition. 'Taking tea is a moment of windless
calm amidst the bluster of daily events,' he writesÖnot a snobbish writer
but one gifted in making history entertaining," the Times says.


from PW Daily for Booksellers (February 2, 2001)
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