RFDT really has nothing to do with Google groups. Google does provide a
USENET interface, but I think it is misleading to refer to the group as a
Google group. Kind of like using Google to search for Jing's Tea Shop and
calling them a Google store.

Good luck on the book,

Blues


"pgwk" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> RFDT was very helpful in my writing my book, which I had largely
> completed many months before I joined the group but I found it very
> valuable in fine tuning the mss. I show here all my references to it,
> so you can see what I said and, please, if you have any concerns, let
> me know. I've tried hard to make sure I don't rip anyone off but a
> distinctive new problem in attribution and citations is that web site
> materials are ephemeral. In many instances, I can't provide date, page
> and author because it's disappeared or is buried deep in archives that
> I can't locate now. I hope you sense my deep appreciation of the
> group. Thank you, so much.
>
> (From the Acknowledgements..........)
>
> This is my first book that essentially is an Internet book. My
> research relies on the Web-I estimate that I browsed 2-3 thousand
> sites to find information, check facts, and get new ideas. 90% of my
> tea purchases are made online and otherwise I would not have been able
> to buy most of the teas that I review. I drew heavily on the expertise
> of the members of the Google USENET group rec.food.drink.tea who
> provide insights and information that I could never otherwise have
> found.
>
>>From the main text............
>
> I recommend that if you do get actively interested in great teas, you
> sign up for the Google chat group rec.food.drink.tea. I find this a
> very helpful forum that includes some highly knowledgeable discussions
> of individual teas. I learnt more about Pu-erh from the enthusiasts on
> it than from any other source. I also find it valuable as a reality
> check. When I get interested in exploring some particular tea, I often
> take a quick look at what the group participants are saying and what
> their general degree of "buzz" about it is. They are also a very
> useful guide to which suppliers-online, offline, producers and
> wholesalers-that they find to be good and bad; they can and do say
> things that I shouldn't in this book. The discussions are also a
> constant reminder to me that my own opinions are just that. Tea is a
> personal taste and there are a lot of people who enjoy what I think
> are boiled tree bark, spiced up mouthwash, or compost heap. Equally,
> there are many who share my tastes but have far more sophisticated
> knowledge of, for instance, China whites. I could masquerade as an
> expert on Baihao oolong and which suppliers to buy it from, just by
> synthesizing the group discussions. There is, of course, also plenty
> of verbiage and chat that drifts and doesn't add up to anything
> interesting and useful, but all in all this is among the best
> information resources that I have found on the Web.
>
> .......
>
> It is fun reading the terms that Pu-erh connoisseurs use to describe
> them. These examples are taken from the Google group
> rec.food.drink.tea, which I recommend to anyone who becomes seriously
> interested in tea. I am amazed by the enthusiasm and knowledge of the
> Pu-erh lovers who provide their analyses. Here are a few from online
> reviews: "3rd steep 45 seconds: wood, mulch, touch of damp basement";
> "there was just a hint of a wet laundry thing here"; "I've come to
> appreciate the rancid taste in more recent shu than the coffee taste
> in something more mature... I mean rancid as in ashy, fishy, moldy";
> "Don't bother with their breaking it up with a hammer instructions. I
> find it's much easier it to pry it apart with a knife."
>
> ........
>
> As support for my classifying Matcha as a Maybe, rather than a Luxury
> Zowie, which is how enthusiasts rate it, let me quote comments from
> the Google tea group that I find useful in getting a sense of how tea
> lovers far more knowledgeable than myself judge individual products
> (rec.food.drink.tea):
> "Also you should be aware that the quality of Matcha varies greatly.
> Most of the Matcha sold outside of Japan is very poor grade. It often
> does not produce a nice froth, and sometimes is even slight brown, as
> opposed to a rich pea green. To get good Matcha, you need to shop at a
> good Japanese market, preferably one that sells other supplies used in
> the tea ceremony." (Oeufs, anyone?)
> "Either Matcha is really unpleasant, or it is really unforgiving. Does
> anybody know the proper ratio of powder to water, the correct temp to
> brew it, the timing of the whisking action (before, during or after it
> has had time to infuse) and other essential directions to ensure the
> proper experience? All I've gotten out of it is very bitter and
> vegetal green soup. Help!"
>
> .........
>
> One topic that I have not addressed so far is the issue of rebrewing
> teas. Since caffeine is water soluble and rapidly released in the
> first two minutes of infusion, then obviously there will be less of it
> in a second or third brewing. The question is how much less.
> Surprisingly, there is almost no discussion of this in either the
> scientific literature on caffeine or that on tea. As I was quite
> literally going through my final edit of the manuscript of Great Teas
> I posted a query on the Google group Rec.food.drink.tea that I have
> mentioned several times. At last I got the answer. I want to thank
> "cha bing" for pointing me to an article with the exotic title of "Tea
> preparation and its influence on methylxanthine concentration" that
> appeared in Food Research International in 1996.
>
> REFERENCES
>
> These "endnotes" provide references to material that I directly quote
> from articles, books and Web sites. This is part of the etiquette of
> writing, that an author should cite sources and give credit to the
> originator. That can be difficult with the ever-changing, evanescent
> world of the Web. If I have inadvertently failed to give credit, I
> apologize and will repair the error in later editions of Great Teas.
> Where it is clear that an item is a cut-and-paste job that is on many
> sites and where the original source is unknown, I do not feel obliged
> to cite it. That is another huge problem on the Web in general and on
> tea sellers' sites in particular.
>
> Paula Murray, Fancy A Nice Cup of Dust?, Daily Record.co.uk, March
> 27, 2007
> liquidplanet.com/Yixing-p-1-c-42.html, and about 30 other Web sites.
> Same exact wording on each site.
> I do not list the company here, but it is national, offers some very
> good teas, and ought to know better.
> Wikipedia.org: "Tea sandwich"
> George Orwell, A Nice Cup of Tea, Evening Standard, 12 January, 1946
> Andrew Jefford, The Best Drink in the World, Financial Times,
> October 28,2006
> Actionaid.org.uk/_content/documents/teabreakreport.pdf
> The newsletter has disappeared from the Web, There are many
> available articles on Darjeeling intellectual property rights. The Key
> term is "TRIPS."
> teavilla.com/2004/07/bubble-tea.htm
> O-cha.com, the web site of a company located in Iwaki-city,
> Fukushima, Japan
> Google group: rec.food.drink.tea; exact citation hard to provide,
> because search engines do not pick up Group chat material
> Ibid (Latin for "same as above")
> Michelle Williams, Tea Trek, Nepal, Fresh Cup Magazine, March 2002
> Rudra Kharda, 7 security personnel killed in Salyan, nepalnews.com,
> June 2002
> Ghoshal Sharma, Six Killed As Nepal Rebels Attack, Boston.com News,
> March 6, 2006
> http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...icle656154.ece
> Google group: rec.food.drink.tea
> Wikipedia.org, Tasseography
> holymtn.com/tea/greentea.htm
> harvestfields.netfirms.com/Tea/Gtea/imperial_dragonwell.htm
> Google group: rec.food.drink.tea
> Business 2.0 Magazine, February 2007
> Mark Moxon, India, Darjeeling, moxon.net/india/darjeeling.html, May
> 1998
> Kakuzo Okakura, The Book of Tea, 1906
> chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2002-02/08/content_106209.htm (2002) and
> .recipezaar.com/recipes.php?q=Rosemary+Mint+Tisane
> A long address:
> http://66.218.71.231/language/transl...s&fr=yfp-t-501
> Google group: rec.food.drink.tea
> Monique Hicks et al, Tea Preparation and its Impacts on
> Methylxanthine concentration, Food Research International, Vol. 29,
> Nos 3-4, 1996
> Mira Kamdar, Planet India, Scribner, New York, 2007, pp. 136-142
> Quin Yang, China to a Tea, Washington Post, May 18, 2007, page H5
>