Chapter VI · The Drinking: Terroir — For tea of rare freshness and rich fragrance, pour but…
Photo: Wikimedia Commons · CC0
The passage
“For tea of rare freshness and rich fragrance, pour but three bowls; for that of the second grade, five. With five guests, serve three bowls; with seven, five. With fewer than six, no fixed count is kept — but omit one, and let the finest essence make up his portion.”
Terroir
“For tea of rare freshness and rich fragrance, pour but…” opens the question of terroir: the same cultivar can taste different on a different slope, soil, altitude, or mist line.
The Classic of Tea ranks soils by drainage and minerality. Modern growers still begin with the same questions: water, roots, shade, and air.
When tasting, ask where the tea grew before asking how famous it is. Terroir is not a marketing word; it is a set of physical conditions.
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.