An E-mail From Mary Lou Heiss

I am pretty excited about the upcoming Pu'er event in Pasadena on June 16th. While the tea lineup is certainly something that any pu'er fanatics should not miss, it is meeting and drinking tea with fellow enthusiasts that I look most forward to out of the event. For one, I will finally meet Guang and his family in person. Most -- if not all -- of the unofficial LA tea club members will be there, providing me with familiar friendly faces. Many other known names will be coming from different cities, states and countries to be at this event.

Two of the people that I look forward to meeting with are Mary Lou and Robert J. Heiss, the husband-and-wife team and owners of Cooks Shop Here in Northampton, Massachusetts. Mary Lou is the author of Green Tea: 50 Hot Drinks, Cool Quenchers, and Sweet and Savory Treats (Harvard Common Press, 2006), and the couple are co-authors of the soon-to-be released tea book titled The Story of Tea (Ten Speed Press).

Mary sent a kind e-mail to me saying:

Dear Phyll,

I have just discovered your tea blog and am finding it very interesting. I wanted to let you know that my husband and I have just completed a very large and comprehensive book on tea which will be published this fall by Ten Speed Press in Berkeley.

...The book has a very educational slant and is fully-illustrated with tea processing photos from our tea buying trips to China and Japan.

I assume that you will be in Pasadena for the Pu-erh tasting as will we.

Best wishes,

Mary Lou
www.CooksShopHere.com

Thank you, Mary, and I look forward to meeting and getting tea drunk with you and your husband in Pasadena!

Folks, FYI below is the cover shot and the short synopsis of The Story of Tea, which will be available in October 2007. I can't comment much on it, but judging the book by its cover, it's something that I'd like to have on my bookshelf.