Chapter VI · The Drinking: Vessels and fire — Tea has nine difficulties: the making, the judging, the vessels…

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The passage

“Tea has nine difficulties: the making, the judging, the vessels, the fire, the water, the roasting, the grinding, the brewing, and the drinking.”

Vessels and fire

The passage points toward vessels and fire: “Tea has nine difficulties: the making, the judging, the vessels…” is also a question of what the tea is made in.

Material, thickness, shape, and heat change the water and the extraction. A vessel is a tool for controlling time.

Old implements are not automatically better. Understanding them helps us see what a modern gaiwan or teapot is actually doing.

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.