Michael Harney, author of The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea - our blogger for the week of 12/22:

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Michael Harney is our guest blogger during the week of December 22nd. If you have any questions for Michael Harney, add a comment to any of his posts. Here is some more information about The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea:

The country's leading connoisseur presents a comprehensive guide for developing your tea palate.

The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea transforms tea drinkers into tea experts. Written by one of the country's leading tea professionals, The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea is an illuminating resource for tea drinkers interested in developing and refining their palate as well as their understanding of the complex agricultural, historical, and cultural significance of tea.

Drawing on his singular experience, Michael Harney masterly explores the full range of teas, revealing how each tea is distinctive, with a taste that derives from a precise combination of cultivation and production techniques, and influenced by the geography as well as its history. These lively profiles of diverse tea varieties-from delicate white tea to aged black puerh tea-include brewing instructions and vivid descriptions of the beverage scent, taste, and appearance; everything you need to become a connoisseur.

Tea has long been popular in the United States, but only recently have Americans treated this nuanced beverage with a deeper curiosity, more refined approach, and wider appetite. The Wall Street Journal reports that total U.S. tea sales are nearly four times what they were in 1990, and this growing population of discriminate consumers will celebrate the new vocabulary provided in The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea.

Unique in scope, candor, and accessibility, The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea will quickly become the classic reference and staple in the library of every serious tea drinker.

About Michael Harney

Michael Harney has been the tea buyer and blender of Harney & Sons for twenty years. He travels to Asia and meets with tea producers from all the major tea countries looking for the season's best teas. He graduated from Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration. He lives with his wife and their three sons in Salisbury, Connecticut