Wen Zhen Heng(1585-1645) was a Ming dynasty author. His book Chang Wu
Zhi ( Recod of Materail Things) written from 1621-1627) is a classic
book about the life style of Ming dynasty literati. "Volume 12 On
Scent and Tea" is a chatper tea and water

The latest edition of Chang Wu Zhi was published in May, 2004, by
Shangdong Pictorial Publishing House Wen Zhen Heng's book: Chang Wu
Zhi

see

Chang Wu Zhi Tu Shuo ( Record On Material Things Pictorial Edition)

Wen Zhen Heng's great grand father was famous Ming dynasty author,
painter Wen Zhen Ming


The following are translated from articles about tea, tea utensil,
etc from
Chang Wu Zhi. ( Article On Tea Hut from Vol 1 On Housing, "On
Celestial Spring" from Vol 3 the rest from vol 12: "Fragrance and Tea"
*************************
On Tea Hut

Build a small hut near a house on a hill, furnished with tea utensils.
Hire a boy as tea servant to take care of tea errands. In order for
the guests chatting all day long or sit in solitary, this is of utmost
important for people retired from office. From Wen Zhen Heng: Chang Wu
Zhi

Translated from Wen Zhen Heng: Chang Wu Zhi, Vol 1: On Housing


On Celestial Spring

Celetial Spring ( rain from the sky) in Autumn is the best, followed
by monsoon season rain water. Autumn rain water is clear and cool,
monsson season rain water is clear and sweet. In Spring and Winter
seasons, spring time water is superior to winter water, because the
weather is mild and the rain is sweet. The water from thunderstorm
Summer is quite harmful, probably because of the thunder storm caused
by evil dragon turmoil. Snow is the essense of crops, hence harvest
snow to brew tea is great, however you must avoid new snow, as it may
have the odor of the earth; slightly aged snow is much better Collect
celetial water with cloth, however do not collect under the eaves,
rather collect in the center of courtyard
From Wen Zhen Heng: Chang Wu Zhi (On Material Things)

Translated from Wen Zhen Heng: Chang Wu Zhi Vol 3: On Water and Rock



On Quality of Tea

There were several dozens of authors wrote about tea, ( Tang dynasty)
Lu Yu's Book of Tea and (Song dynasty) Chai Rang's Tea Record are
among the best. However at that time, tea was processed by ripe
grinding and molding hence the terms "Dragon and Phenix cake"[1],
"Baby Dragon Cake", "Dense Cloud Dragon", "Flying Dragon in the
Cloud". Until the Xuen He era of Song Dynasty people began to consider
white tea[2] as superior. Zheng Ko Jian, the man in charge of marine
transportation first invented "Silver Thread Ice Sprout" tea, made by
discarding the leaves only to pick the cores, then soaked in clear
spring water,without various fragrance such as dragon brain, then
molded with pattern of curling baby dragon on it, hence the name
"Superlative Snow Dragan Cake" . At that time these methods were
deemed perenial. But in our(Ming) dynasty the tradition has changed,
our brewing method is also different from the ancient. Our method is
utmost simple, full of natural fun, truly exhaust the genuine flavour
of tea. As for washing tea, prepare water, choice of utensil, there
are various methods, not simply limited to profuse talk about "Wu Fu"
charcoal container, "Yun Tun" water container, "Ku Jie Jun" bamboo
stove or "Jian Chen" tea container.
From Wen Zhen Heng: Chang Wu Zhi

******************

Notes

[1] During Tang and Song dynasties, tea was pressed into cake or ball
form. The following is a diagram of a "Big Dragon Cake" made with
round brass mold

Big Dragon Cake in Song dynasty

[2]White tea is the rarest tea see White tea


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tiger Hill Tea and Heaven Pool Tea

"Tiger Hill" is the finest tea in the world, pity that the production
quantity is rather small, also controlled by government office. Lone
mountainer got hold of a pot of two as rare tea. However its taste is
actually second to "Heaven Pool" tea.
Those from Dragon Pool are fine, those from the South Hill are the
earliest, with a bit of grass scent

From Wen Zhen Heng: Record of Material Things

-------------------------------------
More to follow

-- martin tai