Lu Yu, Cha Jing: Treatise on Tea - "Tea Canon" (4-5 chapters)

Equipment [for making] tea

Roaster

The brazier should be made of brass or iron and have the shape of an ancient tripod vessel [Ding]. Its walls should be two feng [1 fen = 0.315 cm] thick at the lip [upper edge] and seven to five feng thick at the main part. The brazier should be hollowed out and coated with clay.

My brazier has an inscription in the old style on all three legs, totaling twenty-one characters. The inscription on one reads: "Kan at the top; Sun at the bottom; and Li in the middle."

On the other leg is the inscription: “Cast in the year [following] the defeat of the Mongols by the Great Tang.”

And the third inscription says: “Harmonize the five elements in the body, and you will drive out a hundred diseases.”

My brazier has windows between the legs. At the bottom there is a pit and a place to take out the ashes. Above each window there are more ancient hieroglyphs. Six in total. There are two hieroglyphs above each window, and together they say: "For the Liu family to make tea." [I wonder how they were written in Lu Yu's time and what they could mean in pairs - separately. Too bad my knowledge is not enough.]

In each window is a lattice. On one lattice [is depicted] a pheasant. The pheasant is a bird of fire. Its trigram is Li. On another lattice is a small tiger, which is an animal of the wind and is represented by the trigram Sun. On a third is a fish, a water creature of the trigram Kan. Sun controls the wind, Li controls the fire, and Kan controls the water. The wind can fan the fire, and the fire can boil the water. That is why there are three trigrams on the brazier. Other decorations consist of geometric patterns, intertwined flower buds, cascading vines, and winding streams.

While most braziers are made of iron, they can also be made of processed clay.

The ash vessel is three chi [in diameter] with an iron handle for carrying.

Basket

It is woven from bamboo, one chi and two cun high. Its diameter is seven cun. Some people use rattan and weave [its fibers] to make a box in the shape of a bamboo basket. The basket has six holes, and on top of the bottom there is a cover, like a knapsack, added for beauty.

Stoker

It is hexagonal, made of iron, one chi long. It [the stoker] ends in a sharp point. On the handle there is a small knob with a tassel tied to it for balance. It [the stoker] differs little from the wooden staffs that our soldiers carry along the defensive ditches. For one's own pleasure, the instrument can be represented [decorated] with the hieroglyphs Chui or Fu. [Obviously, this is an ordinary poker].

Fireplace tongs

Fireplace tongs were once designated by the [character] Chu, [as] the word for chopsticks. They are the same as ordinary fireplace tongs - cylindrical and one chi and two cun long. The head is evenly [flat] cut and does not have a bulbous head. The tongs with a hook and chain are made of iron or melted copper.

Boiler

The boiler is made of pig iron, although some of today's makers use what is known as the puddling process to make it. It is usually made from old ploughshares or scraps of chain.

The inside is covered with clay, and the outside with gravelly earth. [Clay is the Chinese term for finely divided clays like kaolin (gaolin in Chinese), and gravelly earth is the clay like Zi Sha that contains larger fractions – sand grains]. The inside of the pot is polished to make it easier to clean, but the outside is left rough to absorb more flame. The ears [handles] are made rectangular for stability, and the rim is widened to facilitate the scattering of [tea] leaves. The bowl is widened to protect the center. When the bowl is widened in this way, the center will be stirred. When the center is stirred, it is easy to throw in the leaves. When the leaves can be thrown in without interference, then the taste will be pure and authentic.

In Guangzhou, the kettles are made of tile, and in Lanzhou of stone. Both tile and stone are fine utensils, but by their nature they lack durability and are difficult to handle. For long-term use, kettles should be made of silver, since they will grow the purest tea. Silver is somewhat immoderate [extravagant], but when beauty is the measure, silver is beautiful. When purity is the measure, silver leads to purity. For durability and long-term use, one always turns to silver.

Support

The support is made in the form of a cross with intersecting crossbars. It is scraped in the center to make a recess for receiving [installing] the cauldron.

Forceps

The tongs are like chopsticks and are made of green bamboo. They are one chi and two cun long. There should be a knot in the first cun. The tongs should be split just before the knot. Then, when the tea is heated, the juice of the bamboo will drip into the fire. The fire will get its aroma and purity and will enhance the aroma of the tea. If you are not among the forests of the valley [?], then for long-term use it may be better to use tongs made of refined iron or forged copper.

Paper bag

The bag should be made of paper that is thick and white and made from rattan. One layer should be pressed against the other and then sewn together to hold the hot tea. This will prevent the tea from losing its aroma.

Video clip

The roller is preferably made of orange wood. If this is not available, pear, tung, or Che wood should be used. The inside of the roller is rounded while the outside is square. In this way, it is easy to move back and forth without [it] tipping over. In addition, the contents of the inside can be filled without spilling. The shape of the recess cut in the wood is like the bottom of a cart wheel that has no spoke or axle. It is nine tsun long and one tsun with seven feng across. The long diameter of the recess is three tsun. The thickness at the center is one tsun, and at the sides at the ends it is half an tsun. The center of the axle is square, and it has a round handle. A brush is attached to the roller, the tip of which is made of bird feathers.

Grid and Box

A mesh or gauze [fabric] should be fitted to the lid of the box to ensure that it will fit well inside. Intended to serve as a sieve, it should be made of fine silk that is tightly stretched over strong split and bent bamboo. The box may be made of a bamboo knot or lacquered wood from the Shang tree. It should be three inches high, the lid one inch, the base two inches. The diameter of the opening should be four inches.

Measure

Sea shells such as clams or oysters provide adequate measures, but it is also acceptable to use ladles made of bamboo, iron or brass. Measure is meant to standardize, to set limits.

Add no more than a square cun of tea to one sheng of boiling water. If you are partial to a thin tea, you can reduce the amount. Likewise, if your taste is satisfied with a strong and rich brew, then add even more.

Water container

Chou tree, pagoda tree, catalpa and tzu tree give their wood to make water container. The wood is joined on the inside and covered on the outside with embroidered cloth or lacquer. The capacity of the water container is ten sheng.

Water filter

The filter commonly used is made of frames made of raw copper. The use of raw copper will keep the water fresh, and will also protect against the putrid and swampy odors that make the water offensive and irritating. If you use wrought copper, [the water] will smell like moss; and if you use iron, it will create putrid odors that will make the water offensive to the taste.

People who are tied to large forests or who rest in the solitude of remote valleys often make their filters from wood or bamboo. Such equipment, however, wears out quickly, and for long-term use it is better to use raw copper.

There is a bag fitted to the copper frame. To make it, first weave young and tender bamboo folded in two. Cut a piece of jade-green silk woven of double threads, make it waterproof, and sew it around the copper frame. Decorate the whole with fine kingfisher feathers, or perhaps silver filigree. When you have finished this, make a green oiled bag to hold [the filter]. It should be five inches in diameter, with a small handle of only one and a half inches.

Water ladle

It is sometimes called Xi Shao and is made from a gourd split in half, or it may be made from carved wood. A Fu [prose poem or poetic narrative] about tea written by a noble servant of the Jin Dynasty says:

"Pour from a gourd. Her mouth is wide, her neck is thin and her handle is short."

During the time of Young Chi [Western Jin Dynasty, circa 306], a man from Yu Yao named Yu Han went to the Pao Pu Mountains to pick tea, and there he met a very experienced Taoist. He said, “I am Tang Chiu-Tzu. May I ask you for the remains of your teacup and Si?” Si was a wooden ladle [at that time]. Nowadays, ladles are usually made of pear wood.

Forceps

The tongs can be made of peach or willow wood, grape or palm. Persimmon heartwood is also acceptable. They should be one chi long with the ends set in silver.

Salt dish [Kuei - this character also denoted a wicker basket for grain used in sacrifices] It may be ceramic, and if round, it should be four chi in diameter. However, it may be in the form of a box or even a bottle or flask. It is intended to hold salt. It is accompanied by a spoon made of bamboo, four cun and one feng long and nine feng wide. It resembles a chopstick.

Warming basin

It is used to hold boiling water. It can be made of porcelain or clay. Its capacity is two sheng.

Tea cup

Yue Zhou ware is the best. Ting Zhou ware is almost as good. Next come cups from Wu Zhou, Yue Zhou, Shu Zhou [same transcription, different city – see first sentence] and Hun Zhou.

There are those who argue that Xin Zhou cups are superior to Yue ware. This is not true at all. It is true to say that if Xin ware is silver, then Yue ware is jade. Or if Xin Zhou cups are snow, then Yue ware is ice. Xin ware, [though] white, gives the tea a cinnabar tint. Yue ware, having a greenish tint, enhances the true color of the tea. This is a third way of describing the superiority of Yue Zhou over Xin in regard to cups. In his poem on tea, Tu You speaks of the equipment for brewing tea and of a cup with a moist gloss made in the East. The cup was a Yue ware. From this it follows that Yue Zhou produces the best cups.

Its rim is not curled and the base is round and flat, the cup holds slightly less than half a sheng [about 225 ml].

The porcelain from both Yue Zhou has a blue-green hue. Its nature enhances and highlights the color of the tea. If the tea is light red, [it] will appear red in a white cup from Xin Zhou. If the tea is red, it will appear rusty brown in cups from Shu Zhou, due to the yellow glaze. Since Hun Zhou ware is brown, the tea will appear black. All of them are not worthy of tea.

Basket for cups

The basket is made of white reeds that are twisted and plaited. It is capable of holding up to ten cups. Sometimes a basket is used, as already described [see Basket]. In such cases paper and cloth are cut out, pressed together and sewn into squares to separate the cups. This type of basket should also hold ten cups.

Brush

The brush should be made by twisting together strips of coconut bark. Then tying them together and inserting them into a block of dogwood. As a substitute, a small bundle of bamboo can be cut [lengthwise] and [it] shaped into a tube as a huge brush for writing [calligraphy].

Cleaning box

The box is for collecting [tea] grounds after cleaning [the pot]. It is made of [small] pieces of catalpa wood and then scraped out like a water ladle. It holds eight shengs.

Vessel for grounds

All the tea grounds are collected in this vessel, which is made similar to a cleaning box, except that it will only collect four sheng.

Fabric [towel]

The cloth is made of coarse thread and is two chi long. [There] should be two. They should be used alternately to clean the rest of the equipment.

Shelf [stand] for utensils

Sometimes it is made like a bed frame, and sometimes like a shelf. It may be constructed of the best, unblemished bamboo. Either wood or bamboo. Yellow or black. It is shaped like a door post and [the surface] is lacquered. It should be three chi long, two chi wide, and six cun high. Its role is to hold all the utensils so that they can be displayed in proper order.

Basket [for carrying all] equipment

The equipment basket gets its name from the fact that it can properly hold all the equipment [for making] tea. Bamboo crossbars are constructed in the basket to create triangular or square nooks. Double-sized slats are used on the outside, and longitudinal slats are laid across the width of the basket. When only single-sized slats are used, they should be fastened together into doubles. Square slits are cut into the base of the weave to achieve an openwork appearance. Your equipment basket should be one and a half chi high, one chi across at the base, and two tsun thick. Also desirable is its length of two chi and four tsun. And it should open at the top by two tsun.

Brewing tea

Whenever you heat the tea [pressed slab], be careful that it is not placed between the wind and the smoldering embers. A fire may break out and if it catches the brick, the heating of the tea will be uneven. When this happens, grab the brick and press it against the fire several times. Then turn it upside down until it is heated. Then take it out [the tea slab] and set it aside. When the shape begins to swell [bend] like a toad's back, move [the tea slab] five cun away from the fire, turn it over [several times], and let it rest until [it] returns to its original state [shape]. Then heat it again.

When the tea [in production] is fire-dried, you can judge the sufficiency of the roast by its harmony. When the tea is sun-dried, its softness will serve as a test. In cases where the tea is particularly young and tender, steam it and then crush it while hot. The buds and shoots will retain their shape, but the leaves should be soft. In cases where the leaves are tough, grab a heavy pestle and pound the leaves until they break like lacquered beads or become like brave soldiers who have received orders not to stop and to march until they have no more strength.

When the tea has become so hot that the stems are as soft as a child's hand, put it in a paper bag while it is still hot. If you do this, none of the purity and dryness of it [the tea] will be lost. Grind it into powder as soon as it [the tea] has cooled. It is best to use charcoal for the fire, and if you do not have any, bundles of very hard wood will do. However, charcoal that has been used before will emit a musty, foul, and greasy stench. Oily wood or worn-out and discarded utensils should never be used as fuel.

The ancients [masters] attached great importance to the taste of tea by boiling it on firewood that had been prepared [aged, dried] for a long time. As for the question of what water to use, I would advise that tea made from mountain stream water is the best, that from river water is good, but that from well water is the worst. (A poem about tea says: "When water comes to mind, I bow before the pure-flowing streams of Ming'a [modern Sichuan]").

Water from slow-moving streams paved with stones or milky springs is the best of mountain waters. Never drink tea made from water that falls in waterfalls, gushes from a spring, rushes in a torrent or whirls and splashes as if nature were rinsing its mouth. Abuse of such water for making tea leads to throat diseases.

Of the many other streams that flow through the mountains and valleys, there are some that are clear and pure, but they sink into the ground and are swallowed up without finding an outlet. From the hot season to the frost, the dragon may be confined [isolated] and harmful poisons accumulate within them. The taste of the water alone will tell you whether it is acceptable. If the evil spirit of the stream makes the water boil [bubble] like a fresh spring, pour it [the water] out.

If you use river water, use only water that has not been near human contact and, if it is good water, pour out a large amount of it before using.

When water boils, it should look like fish eyes and emit a soft sound. When at the edges [of the cauldron] it gurgles like a boiling [bubbling] spring and resembles innumerable pearls strung together, it has reached the second degree [of boiling]. When it beats like a majestic surf and sounds like a rising wave, it has reached the summit [of boiling]. The water can no longer be boiled and should not be used.

When the boiling water is in its first stage, it is advisable to add a measure of salt in proportion to the amount of water. When to stop, you can tell by tasting [the water].

During the second stage of boiling, pour out a ladle of water and stir [the water] around the center of the boil with your bamboo tongs. If you think that this is not enough, lower the tongs into the center of the boil and make a circular motion with force. If it [the water] is still beating, agitated and splashing foam, pour back some of the water that you poured out. This will stop the over-boiling and, at the same time, maintain the basic virtues.

Pour into cups so that [the tea] comes out foamy. The foamy wisps are the decoration of the decoction and [they are] called Mo if thin and Po if thick. When they are beautiful and light, they are called flowers, since they resemble the flowers of the jujube tree, lightly carried on the surface of a round pond.

They should resemble pools of water swirling in little eddies, undulating islands, or floating duckweed at the time of creation. They should resemble wind-blown clouds in a clear blue sky, and sometimes overlapping like the scales of a fish. They should resemble copper coins, green with age, churned by the rapids of a river, or arranged like chrysanthemum petals scattered haphazardly on the stand of a goblet.

To achieve the foam called Po, heat the remaining water until it boils. Then the fine and light floral foam will gather and become as silvery and white as snowfall.

The poem about tea speaks of foam as a flaming brilliance, and says that it should be as brilliant as a snowdrift and as luxurious as a spring lotus.

When you pour off the water during the first boil, let it stand. If there is a web on the surface of the foam, like a black cloud, do not drink it, as the taste will be false.

The first cup should have a memorable taste, unusual and persistent. There are those who allow [the tea] to continue to boil, to cherish the elegance and maintain the foam even during the first, second and third cups. After the third cup, one should not drink more than the fourth or fifth cup, unless one is thirsty.

At each brewing, one sheng of water should be used for five cups of tea. Drink the tea cup by cup so that the heavy impurities [mud] remain at the bottom and the fine foam floats from edge to edge, like shreds of thin ice. Then the fine qualities of the tea will be fully preserved. But when you drink [the tea], only [sip] in small sips. Otherwise, you waste the taste.

Moderation is the essence of tea. Tea does not allow itself to be extravagant. If the tea is bland and weak, it will lose its aroma even before half the cup is gone. How many more such cases of extravagance in its use! The tremor of color will disappear and the perfection of aroma will melt away.

When the tea tastes sweet, it may be called Chia. If it is less sweet and bitter or strong, it is called Ch'uan. If it is bitter or strong when sipped, but sweet when swallowed, it is called Ch'a.