"Among the Three Sovereigns, Shennong the Fiery Emperor; of the Zhou, the Duke of Zhou Dan of Lu; Yan Ying, prime minister of Qi; and of the Han, the immortals Dan Qiu-zi and Huang
"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 everythi
"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 charcoa
"Wild tea is best; that of the garden is inferior. On sunny cliffs beneath shady woods, the purple buds are best and the green ones inferior; buds like bamboo shoots are best, slen
"Tea takes a thousand forms. To speak roughly: some are like barbarian boots, puckered and shriveled; some like the chest of a wild ox, ribbed and draped; some like clouds rising f
"Those who cultivate tea may grow several hundred clumps; the tree like gualu, leaves like gardenia, flowers like white rose, fruit like palm."
"As for the ground: the finest tea grows in shattered rock, the middling in gravelly loam, and the inferior in yellow clay."
"Steam it, pound it, press it, roast it, string it, seal it — and the tea is done."
"Some add scallion, ginger, jujube, tangerine peel, cornel, and mint, boiling it a hundred times, or stirring it slippery, or skimming off the froth. This is nothing but ditchwater
"As for the character, it is sometimes written with the grass radical, sometimes with the tree radical, and sometimes with both."