Chapter VI · The Drinking: Terroir — Gathering in shade and roasting by night is not true…
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The passage
“Gathering in shade and roasting by night is not true making; tasting and sniffing is not true judging; rank-smelling vessels are not true utensils; greasy fuel and kitchen charcoal are not true fire; torrents and stagnant pools are not true water; raw within and scorched without is not true roasting; powder that flies like dust is not true grinding; clumsy hurried stirring is not true brewing; drinking only in summer is not true drinking.”
Terroir
“Gathering in shade and roasting by night is not true…” 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.