Chapter III · The Making: History — Some praise tea that is glossy, black, and even —…
Photo: Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0
The passage
“Some praise tea that is glossy, black, and even — that is the lowest judgment. Some praise what is wrinkled, yellow, and uneven — that is a middling judgment. But to call everything good or everything bad is the highest judgment.”
History
“Some praise tea that is glossy, black, and even —…” belongs to a specific moment: Tang tea culture was moving from medicinal and mixed preparations toward a more deliberate way of drinking.
Lu Yu gathered scattered practices into a system: tools, vessels, water, fire, etiquette, and regions. That system is the real subject of the book.
Reading historically keeps us from mistaking one era’s custom for an eternal law of tea.
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.