William Harrison Ukers (1873–1945) was the editor of The Tea and Coffee Trade Journal and author of All About Tea (1935) — a landmark two-volume work of encyclopedic scope that synthesized the entirety of tea knowledge from ancient Chinese origins through 20th-century industrial production, and which remains 90 years after publication the most exhaustively documented single reference work in the English-language tea literature.
In-Depth Explanation
Ukers was born in Philadelphia in 1873 and built his career in tea and coffee trade journalism. As editor of The Tea and Coffee Trade Journal — a major industry publication — he had access to growers, merchants, botanists, and researchers across the world, and correspondence files that gave him unprecedented insight into the global tea industry.
All About Tea (1935): The book is a genuinely extraordinary document:
- Two volumes, totaling over 1,000 pages
- Covers botany, cultivation, processing, trade, economics, auctions, history, chemistry, and culture
- Includes historical chapters on tea in every major tea-consuming nation
- Documents tea varieties, grades, and tasting criteria as understood in the 1930s
- Contains chapters on the histories of famous tea companies and trading institutions
It is not light reading — it is a reference work of the kind that specialists use, and its age means that some data is historical rather than current. But no subsequent work has matched its scope.
Research method: Ukers traveled extensively and conducted what was, for its era, rigorous research — including consulting primary sources in multiple languages, visiting tea-producing regions, and working with scientific and agricultural experts. The depth of his primary source use is what gives the book lasting value.
Companion volume: Ukers also wrote All About Coffee — a similarly massive reference that is equally authoritative in coffee studies — making him the only person in history to have produced encyclopedic reference works on both major caffeinated beverages.
Access and influence: All About Tea was reprinted in a luxury edition in 1997 and is now available digitally. Its influence on subsequent tea writers — from Jane Pettigrew to James Norwood Pratt — is traceable in their footnotes and acknowledgments.
Related Terms
See Also
- Jane Pettigrew — modern tea scholar who follows in the Ukers tradition
- James Norwood Pratt — American tea writer who acknowledged Ukers’s influence
- Sakubo – Learn Japanese
Research
- Ukers, W.H. (1935). All About Tea. The Tea and Coffee Trade Journal Company. New York. (The work itself is the primary document.)
- Pettigrew, J., & Richardson, B. (2014). A Social History of Tea. Tea Council Ltd.