Tea Technique: The Books

About the Site

teatechnique.org is the online home of the multi-part web-book series "An Introduction to the Art & Science of Chinese Tea Ceremony" by Jason M. Cohen.

Jason hiking up the tea mountain in Korea

My interest in tea began in 2007 while attempting to study political science in Kunming, China. Though my political studies were less than successful for various reasons, tea was an equally intriguing topic: I began learning to taste and identify pu'er tea in the Kunming tea market with the guidance of master tea makers. Broadening my horizons, I lived on Makaibari tea plantation (Darjeeling, India) for the 2008 Spring-harvest season and learned to process tea in both modern and traditional methods. Always a touch obsessive, I then founded an interdisciplinary tea research institute, The Tea Institute at Penn State, that I led from 2009 to 2016.

The idea for this series arose from my experience teaching students at the Institute – since tea reached the western world, there has been a lack of accurate, comprehensive, and accessible resources on tea processing, culture, and brewing techniques. Though the idea for these books were first mentioned on my personal blog in 2012, I didn’t start writing until the COVID-19 pandemic kept me stationary for almost a year: trading my international travels as CEO of Analytical Flavor Systems (acquired by NielsenIQ, 2025) for quiet contemplation in my personal tea room, I wrote and published the first book during quarantine.

This website hosts the most up-to-date canonical version of each book in the series. The first book On Theory, Meta Theory, and Culture was finished on December 16, 2021; the second book in the series, Yixing Teapots - Knowledge, Connoisseurship, and Technique, began its serialized publication on June 2, 2022, with chapters released approximately every two weeks, set for completion in late 2025.

Tradition and Lineage

All books in the series An Introduction to the Art & Science of Chinese Tea Ceremony are firmly rooted in the literati gentleman-scholar tradition, emphasizing rational inquiry, historical rigor, and contemporary relevance.

Although many chapters touch on the traditions, history, and philosophies of Neo-Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism, and while I have the upmost respect for the spiritual paths of tea, and have personally practiced various forms of Buddhism: the spiritual path is not my path.

The goal of my particular tradition of Chinese Tea Ceremony is to brew good tea. Tea Technique offers detailed explorations of brewing techniques, the wares used to brew tea, the identification and understanding of specific teas, and analysis on the contemporary cultural anthropology and sociology of high-level GongFu tea practice.

Why Members-Only?

Membership grants exclusive access to all books in the series, detailed chapter discussions, and an ongoing community dialogue. For additional benefits and to understand the full value of membership, please visit Why Subscribe?.

Why Subscribe Now?

While the first book is fully published and the second is being actively serialized with bi-weekly chapters, ongoing discussions, debates, and updates continue to enrich the content. Subscribers benefit from direct engagement with the author, expert contributors, and fellow enthusiasts, enhancing their understanding and appreciation of tea culture.

BOOK 0 - An Introduction to the Art & Science of Chinese Tea Ceremony: Author's Foreword

Overview

My mea culpa and a required definition in defense of the word "ceremony".

Table of Contents

  1. Dear Reader - [open access]

  2. Ceremony: A Working Definition - [open access]

BOOK 1 - An Introduction to the Art & Science of Chinese Tea Ceremony: On Theory, Meta Theory, and Culture

Overview

The first book in the series analyzes the historical antecedents of our contemporary praxis and the challenges practitioners face in progressing the future of Chinese Tea Ceremony.

Table of Contents

  1. Levels of Practice
  2. The Primacy of Perception in the Propagation of Praxes

  3. Aesthetic Experience and Aesthetic Context
  4. The Future of Chinese Tea Ceremony
  5. A Bourdieu’dian Analysis for the Construction of an Education in Tea - [no content]
  6. Wealth and Knowledge in contemporary Chinese Tea Ceremony - [no content]
  7. Historical Scholastic Disinterest
  8. Why is Phenomenism important?

  9. Simulacrum and the Road to Hell - [no content]
  10. Immanentize the Eschaton

  11. The Future of Tea Ceremony Redux

BOOK 2 - An Introduction to the Art & Science of Chinese Tea Ceremony: Yixing Teapots - Knowledge, Connoisseurship, and Technique

Overview

This book, the second in the series, places Yixing teapots into a historical, cultural, and functional framework of knowledge focusing on connoisseurship and applied technique for Chinese Tea.

Table of Contents

  1. Preface - What I Know - [Open Access]

  2. Introduction to Yixing Teapots - [Open Access]

  3. Myths and Complications

  4. An Abbreviated History of Yixing Teapots - [No Content]
  5. An Introduction to the Production of Clay Ceramics - [Open Access]
  6. Yixing Zisha Ore
  7. The Mines of Yixing
  8. From Yixing Ore to Zisha Clay
  9. Specific Yixing Ore and Zisha Clay
  10. Construction of Yixing Teapots
  11. Firing of Yixing Teapots - [No Content]
  12. Flaws in Zisha Clay - [No Content]
  13. Standard Historical Designs of Yixing Teapots
    • Real Teapot, Fake Teapot: Real Replicas and Fake Forgeries
    • Ming Dynasty Yixing Teapot Designs
    • Qing Dynasty Yixing Teapot Designs
    • Republic of China Yixing Teapot Designs
    • Yixing Factory #1 (F1) Teapot Designs
      • [in editing]

  14. Unique Historical Designs of Yixing Teapots
    • [In Editing]

  15. Contemporary Designs of Yixing Teapots
    • Yixing Ceramic Artist Certifications
    • Reflexive Stagnation
    • Unique Contemporary Experimentation in Yixing
      • [In Editing]
    • Chops of Yixing

  16. Identification & Verification of Yixing Teapots
    • Verification as a Process
    • Identifying Attributes and Attribute Identification
    • Communicability of Identification as a form of Verification
    • Collector Myths and Merchant "Verification"
    • Chops and Verification
    • Size and Shape
    • The Masters Hand
    • Anonymous Craftsmen and Identification
    • Conclusions of Verification

  17. Properties of Fired Zisha Material
    • Material Science of Ceramics
    • Effects of Multiple Firing on Zisha Clay
    • Characterization of Zisha Clay Interaction and Effect on Tea
    • Comparison of Antique versus Contemporary Zisha Clay Material
    • Grain Size of Zisha Clay and Resulting Characteristics

  18. Brewing Theory
    • Utilitarian Prerequisites for Yixing Teapots in Chinese Tea Ceremony
      • Laminar Flow
      • The Teapot Effect
    • Structural-Functionalist Prerequisites for Yixing Teapots in Chinese Tea Ceremony
    • Pairing Yixing and Tea
    • The Phenomenology of Pairing

  19. Afterword