Search All Teas
List All Products |
|
|
Advanced Search |
Tea Exhibition
| The Brewing of Tea |
 |
 |
 |
|
The Brewing of Tea WHENEVER YOU HEAT TEA, take heed that it not lies between the wind and the embers. The fire can flame out and if it penetrates the brick, the curing operation will be uneven. When that happens, grasp the brick and press it against the fire several times. Then turn it upright until it is roasted. Then pull it out and bank it. When the shape begins to hump like the back of a toad, pull it back five inches from the fire, roll it and let it rest until it assumes its original state. Then heat it again. When tea is dried by fire, you can tell by the temper of it when it has been cooked enough. When it is sun-dried, its softness will be the test. In cases when the tea is especially young and tender, steam it and then pound it while hot. The buds and shoots will retain their shape but the leaves should be pulpy. In cases in which the leaves are tough, grasp a heavy pestle and pound the leaves until they are broken like lacquered beads or become like brave soldiers who have received their orders not to halt and go on until there is no strength left in them. When the tea has been heated until the stems are as tender as a baby's arm, store it in a paper bag while it is still hot. If you do that, then nothing of its original purity or nature will be dissipated. Pulverize it as soon as it is cold. It is best to use charcoal for the fire and failing that, faggots of a very hard wood will do. However, charcoal that has been used before will give of f a musty, rank and greasy smell. One must never use oily woods, worn-outs or discarded utensils as fuel. The ancients placed great store in tea's flavor when it was brewed with firewood that had been cured for a long time. On the question of what water to use, I would suggest that tea made from mountain streams is best, river water is all right, but well-water tea is quite inferior. (The poem on tea says, when it comes to water, I bow before the pure-flowing channels of the Min.) Water from the slow-flowing streams, the stone-lined pools or milk-pure springs is the best of mountain water. Never take tea made from water that falls in cascades, gushes from springs, rushes in a torrent or that eddies and surges as if nature were rinsing its mouth. Over usage of all such water to make tea will lead to illnesses of the throat. Of the many other streams that flow through mountain and valley, there are those that are clear and pure but which sink into the ground and are absorbed before finding an outlet. From the hot season to the time of frost, the dragon may be sequestered and noxious poisons will accumulate within them. One taste of the water will tell you if it is all right. If the evil genius of a stream makes the water bubble like a fresh spring, pour it out. If you must use river water, take only that which man has not been near; and if it is well water, then draw a great deal before using it. When the water is boiling, it must look like fishes' eyes and give of f but the hint of a sound. When at the edges it chatters like a bubbling spring and looks like pearls innumerable strung together, it has reached the second stage. When it leaps like breakers majestic and resounds like a swelling wave, it is at its peak. Any more and the water will be boiled out and should not be used. When the boiling water is in its first stage, you may add a measure of salt in accordance with the amount of water. You can tell when to stop by sampling it. During the second stage of the boiling, draw off a ladle full of water and stir around the center of the boil with your bamboo pincers. If you judge that it is not yet right, lower the pincers into the center of the boil and do it with force. I f it still leaps up making waves and splashing into a froth, pour back some of the water you have drawn off. That will stop it from over-boiling while encouraging its essential virtue. Pour it into cups so that it will come out frothy. The frothy patches are the ornamentation to the decoction and are called mo if thin, po if thick. When they are fine and light, they are called flowers, for they resemble the flowers of the jujube tree tossing lightly on the surface of a circular pool. They should suggest eddying pools, twisting islets or floating duckweed at the time of the world's creation. They should be like scudding clouds in a clear blue sky and should occasionally overlap like scales on fish. They should be like copper cash, green with age, churned by the rapids of a river, or dispose themselves as chrysanthemum petals would, promiscuously cast on a goblet's stand. To achieve the froth called po, heat the remaining water until it boils. Then the fine, light flowery froth will gather and become as silvery and white as drifted snow. The poem on tea speaks of froth as flaming brilliance, and says that it must be as lustrous as the snowdrift and as sumptuous as the spring lotus. When you draw off the water during the first boil, allow it to stand. If on the surface of the froth there is a lining -like a black cloud, do not drink it, for the flavor will be untrue. The first cup should have a haunting flavor, strange and lasting. There are those who allow it to continue simmering to nourish the elegance and retain the froth even through a first, second and third cup. After the third cup, one should not drink more than a fourth or fifth cup unless he is very thirsty. At every brewing, one pint of water should be used for five cups of tea. Take the tea cups one after the other so that the heavy impurities will remain at the bottom and the choicest froths float across the top like patches of thin ice. Then the delicate virtues of the tea will be retained throughout. But when you drink it, sip only. Otherwise, you will dissipate the flavor. Moderation is the very essence of tea. Tea does not lend itself to extravagance. If a tea is insipid and bland, it will lose its flavor before even half a cup has disappeared. How much more so in the case of extravagance in its use. The vibrancy will fade from the color and the perfection of its fragrance will melt away. When tea has a sweet flavor, it may be called chic. If it is less than sweet and of a bitter or strong taste, it is called ch'uan. If it is bitter or strong when sipped but sweet when swallowed, it is called cha. |
Tea Shopping Bag
Your Cart is currently empty.
Featured Blooms
Little Princess
$3.59 |
Candlelight Delight
$4.89 |
Top 3 Blooming Tea
| 01 | Candlelight Delight |
| 02 | Burst of Sunshine |
| 03 | Little Princess |
Our Website is Secured by:
Payments are handled by Paypal for your security and convenience
 |