Post by Saionji Shonagon on Jul 22, 2011 15:48:41 GMT -5
This week Li Guang Ming was kind enough to loan me his copy of the 1974 translation of Lu Yu's Cha Ching or The Classic of Tea by Francis Ross Carpenter.
Lu wrote this work some time between 760 and 780 and set down specifics for the cultivation, preparation, brewing and drinking of tea. Translator Carpenter introduces the translated text with a good overview of the history of tea, beginning in China and continuing through its introduction and spread through Western Europe. He also includes a section about Lu and his times.
Lu's instructions are specific and fairly straightforward, from his listing of necessary implements to what sort of bowls are best for serving tea to how to identify stages in water boiling. I found the section on simplified tea brewing/service in primitive or rustic conditions comforting. If one is putting on the dog at the Imperial Court no step or utensil may be omitted, but one may simplify, even improvise if one's seat is a humble stone.
(A stroll through Amazon.com indicates a more recent edition published in 1995 by the same author. I don't know if there have been any revisions or additions to the 1974 version.)
Either way, it was an interesting read, particularly if one is a tea lover.
Lu wrote this work some time between 760 and 780 and set down specifics for the cultivation, preparation, brewing and drinking of tea. Translator Carpenter introduces the translated text with a good overview of the history of tea, beginning in China and continuing through its introduction and spread through Western Europe. He also includes a section about Lu and his times.
Lu's instructions are specific and fairly straightforward, from his listing of necessary implements to what sort of bowls are best for serving tea to how to identify stages in water boiling. I found the section on simplified tea brewing/service in primitive or rustic conditions comforting. If one is putting on the dog at the Imperial Court no step or utensil may be omitted, but one may simplify, even improvise if one's seat is a humble stone.
(A stroll through Amazon.com indicates a more recent edition published in 1995 by the same author. I don't know if there have been any revisions or additions to the 1974 version.)
Either way, it was an interesting read, particularly if one is a tea lover.