Chapter III · The Making: Terroir — Steam it, pound it, press it, roast it, string it…

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The passage

“Steam it, pound it, press it, roast it, string it, seal it — and the tea is done.”

Terroir

“Steam it, pound it, press it, roast it, string it…” 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.