Chapter II · The Implements: Taste and body — The chan cloth, also called yi, is made of oiled…

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The passage

“The chan cloth, also called yi, is made of oiled silk or worn rainwear. It is laid on the cheng base, and the gui mold set upon it to form the tea; when a cake is done, it is lifted and replaced.”

Taste and body

The final test of any tea text is the body: warmth, texture, bitterness, sweetness, throat feeling, and whether you feel well afterwards.

The Classic of Tea is unusually practical here. It cares about what tea does to the drinker, not only what it symbolizes.

Taste comparatively: same tea, different water, vessel, temperature, and steep time. The differences teach more than adjectives.

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.