Chapter VIII · The Producing Regions: Terroir — In Zhexi Circuit, Huzhou is best, Changzhou next, and Xuanzhou…
Photo: Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
The passage
“In Zhexi Circuit, Huzhou is best, Changzhou next, and Xuanzhou, Hangzhou, Muzhou, and Shezhou lower.”
Terroir
“In Zhexi Circuit, Huzhou is best, Changzhou next, and Xuanzhou…” opens the question of terroir: the same cultivar can taste different on a different slope, soil, altitude, or mist line.
The Classic of Tea ranks soils by drainage and minerality. Modern growers still begin with the same questions: water, roots, shade, and air.
When tasting, ask where the tea grew before asking how famous it is. Terroir is not a marketing word; it is a set of physical conditions.
Reading note
Read the passage once for the image, once for the judgment, and once for the practice it implies.
Practice
- Name one thing the passage asks you to notice.
- Compare it with a tea you know.
- Keep the question open.