"When it first boils, with fish-eye bubbles and a faint sound, that is the first boil; when the rim seethes like linked pearls, the second; when it surges like waves, the third. Be
"Zuo Si's poem The Doting Daughters reads: 'Their hearts race for the tea, they puff and blow upon the tripod.'"
"The stove should have no chimney; the cauldron should have a lipped rim."
"If one takes qini in place of ginseng, none of the six ailments will be cured. Understand how ginseng may mislead, and the pitfalls of tea become clear."
"For the fire, charcoal is best, and sturdy firewood next. Charcoal that has been used for roasting, stained with fat and rankness, as well as resinous wood and rotten utensils, mu
"When Emperor Hui of Jin, fleeing in the dust, returned to Luoyang, the eunuch presented tea in an earthen bowl to the Son of Heaven."
"Picked out of season, made carelessly, adulterated with wild weeds, drinking it brings illness. The harm of tea, too, is like that of ginseng."
"For tea bowls, those of Yuezhou are best, Dingzhou and Wuzhou next; of the Yuezhou type, Yue is finest, then Shouzhou and Hongzhou."
"Yan Ying, when minister to Duke Jing of Qi, ate only husked-rice meals, with three roast game birds, five eggs, and tea-leaf vegetable."
"The use of tea: its nature is extremely cold, and as a beverage it is most suited to men of disciplined conduct and frugal virtue."