Chapter III · The Making: Plain reading — Some praise tea that is glossy, black, and even —…
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The passage
“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 everything good or everything bad is the highest judgment.”
Plain reading
In plain English: “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 everything good or everything bad is the highest judgment.”
The point is not to turn the passage into a modern slogan. It is to recover the judgment behind it: what counts as good tea, and why.
For a modern reader, the most useful move is to turn the passage into a short checklist for buying, making, or tasting tea.
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.