James Norwood Pratt

Most recently, in 2017, he annotated and released The Romance of Tea, William Ukers' 1936 work describing the legendary and true origins of tea, the spread of its consumption as a beverage, and the romantic trade that grew up around it, among other topics. The New York Times described The Romance of Tea as "[a] truly delightful history of the tea plant's 1600 years of beneficent ministry to man's comfort and aesthetic pleasure."

In 2010, he authored James Norwood Pratt's Tea Dictionary, which was named Best New Publication by the World Tea Expo (2010). The comprehensive dictionary was designed as a handbook for the international tea trade, but intended to be accessible and useful to tea lovers of every description. The book includes terms for cultivation, manufacture, tasting, trading, marketing, and classification of tea.

Beginning in 2007, James Norwood Pratt began contributing articles to the tea blog, T Ching. He published more than 25 articles on artisan teas and tea history until 2014.

In 2007 he helped stage a Festival of Tea for Santa Fe Opera's premier production of "Tea: A Mirror of Soul" by Chinese composer Tan Dun. Extensive interviews with Mr. Pratt are featured in the 2009 book, The Meaning of Tea: A Tea Inspired Journey. He appears in Scott Chamberlin Hoyt's 2008 documentary film of the same name.

Also a speaker and teacher, Mr. Pratt has addressed audiences from Zurich, Switzerland (Le Club des Buveurs de The Suisse) and London's Kew Gardens to Hangzhou (China Tea Research Institute). He served as International Juror at India's first-ever tea competition, The Golden Leaf India Awards 2005, in Coonoor, India. He has served as a consultant, teacher, taster or spokesman for several tea companies.

In 2000, he brought out James Norwood Pratt's NEW Tea Lover's Treasury, a complete re-casting of his earlier work in the light of increased information. This book is often used as a training manual in the United States tea trade, and has been translated into German with the title Tee für Geniesser.

Profiling him as "The Renaissance man of the tea industry" in Fresh Cup magazine's "1999 Tea Almanac", Michelle Williams wrote: "Parts historian, connoisseur, and world-traveller…he has carved out a reputation as the consummate spokesman for US tea consumers. His wit and dedication to the beverage have helped spread the gospel of tea to tens of thousands of people."

He was named Honorary Director of the Imperial Tea Court, a traditional Chinese teahouse founded in 1993 by Roy Fong in San Francisco, now located in the San Francisco Ferry Building. Mr. Pratt has played a major role in disseminating China tea information and tea ways in America and the West. He first anglicized the name for the Chinese covered cup, for example, as "gaiwan" and on second thought changed the spelling to "guywan." Both spellings are now found in English, French and German.

He is best known for his books on tea, including James Norwood Pratt's Tea Lover's Treasury (1982), The Tea Lover's Companion (1995), and Reading Tea Leaves (1996) as authored "by a Highland Seer."

In California, he wrote his first book The Wine Bibber's Bible (1971), which sold a half-million copies. The acknowledged classic became an indispensable guide to the finest wines of California, and received stellar reviews. Among others, the San Francisco Chronicle noted that it is "[a] delightful book . . . built upon extensive knowledge," and the Washington Post noted that it is "[i]lluminated by love and garnished with literary allusion."

Since 1965, he has lived chiefly in San Francisco, California.

James Norwood Pratt was educated at R.J. Reynolds High School, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and in Europe. While at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he enrolled in its Honors Program, infamously named the "Suicide 50" given the extreme obstacles enrollees faced in the program. In 1960, as part of the Honors Program, Pratt made his first journey to Europe aboard RMS Queen Mary. On his return journey, on its sister ship RMS Queen Elizabeth, Pratt first met his future wife, Valerie Turner Pratt.

James Norwood Pratt (born March 27, 1942) is an American author, educator, and speaker, on the topics of wine, tea, and tea lore. Known as "America's Tea Sage," he is possibly the world's most widely read authority on tea and tea lore.