"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."
"Write it out on silk, in four or six panels, and place them by your seat — then the Origin, the Implements, the Making, the Vessels, the Brewing, the Drinking, the History, the Pr
"The bamboo-shoot-like buds, growing in rich rocky soil, reach four or five inches, like young ferns just unfolding; they are picked while the morning dew is still on them."
"Winged creatures fly, furred creatures run, and those with mouths speak — all three dwell between heaven and earth and live by drinking and eating. How far-reaching is the meaning
"As for the making tools: if at early spring, during the cold-food days, one gathers with many hands in a wild temple or mountain garden, steaming and pounding on the spot, then dr