How to Tell the Story of Tea Well —— Reading Notes on Zhou's Tea Classic

On February 27, 2022, Saskatchewan Swan Reading Club 14 reading list: Week? Basic knowledge of tea.

The following is what I shared.

I always like reading, reading while drinking tea. I like to make friends and chat while drinking tea. Generally speaking, I just enjoy the light pleasure brought by tea, and I know nothing about tea knowledge and stories. I am very grateful to Saskatchewan Swan Book Club for providing me with such an opportunity to enter the magical world of tea.

The author of this book, Zhou, is a famous scholar of tea culture. Taking the Book of Tea as the origin and referring to more than 40 ancient and modern editions, I have devoted myself to the study of China tea culture 15 years, which is quite professional. I just had a quick look. Take this opportunity to share some personal experiences and ideas.

First, the story of Lu Yu fitness

Let's take a look at the scenery of West Lake Park in Tianmen, Hubei.

202 1 1 I was lucky to have a visit. At that time, I walked into the West Lake Park in Tianmen City and saw a handsome and elegant scholar statue, only to know that it was Lu Yu. I didn't know who Lu Yu was at that time. Later, I learned that this is Lu Yu Cha Sheng, who was born in Tianmen. In the West Lake Park of Tianmen City, memorial venues such as Tea Classics Building and Hung-chien Building have been built. Therefore, Tianmen City has become the only "tea culture tourism demonstration area" in Hubei Province.

Only by reading Zhou's Tea Classic can we have a more comprehensive understanding of Lu Yu's life.

Lu Yu (about 733-804) was born in Jingling (now Tianmen City, Hubei Province) in the Tang Dynasty.

Lu Yu is an abandoned baby saved by an old monk. He has no name and he doesn't know who his parents are. As soon as he was sensible, he entered the temple and was told that he had no father or mother since childhood. It is this that gave Lu Yu some ideas. He read many Confucian books, herded cows and wrote on their backs.

When Lu Yu grew up, he chose a dark night to escape from the temple. Later, he mixed with the troupe and began his career as an actor. After that, he began his life as a tea taster.

Lu Yu's first identity is a young monk, his second identity is a player, his third identity is a scholar (intellectual), and he finally becomes a hermit.

Lu Yu has advantages that others don't. He has no father, no mother, no wife and no children-these are almost a "burden" for many people who want to be hermits.

Lu Yu loved tea all his life and was good at tea ceremony. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty (760), Lu Yu lived in Tiaoxi (now Huzhou, Zhejiang Province) and wrote three volumes of Tea Classic, which discussed the characteristics, quality, origin, planting, collecting, cooking and drinking, utensils and so on of tea, and was the first tea monograph in the world.

Lu Yu wrote in his autobiography "Autobiography of Lu Literature" that "the word Hung-chien, I don't know who he is, has an ugly face of harmony, looks very similar, and stutters like a cloud". Lu Yu was ugly and stammered, but she performed well on the stage and was appreciated by the nobles. The statue of Lu Yu in Tianmen Park, with a delicate and elegant face, turned out to be just a projection of people's beautiful thoughts.

It seems that everyone comes to this world with a mission. Regardless of their origins and looks, Lu Yu, who loves reading and tea, eventually became tea fairy and Cha Sheng.

Second, the story of tea rights in Kenya

Tea has become a popular drink all over the world. In August 2008, I had the opportunity to visit Kenya. I went to this country mainly to see wild animals. Unexpectedly, I met tea.

Local friends especially recommend Kenyan purple tea.

I have drunk black tea, green tea and scented tea before, but I seem to have never seen purple tea. So I have the heart to study online, and the development of tea in Kenya is roughly divided into three sections:

1. originated in England.

Tracing the history of tea development in Kenya is closely related to its being a British colony.

1903, the British Kenner introduced tea trees to Limulu, Kenya for the first time.

1920 After the British colonized Kenya, tea was planted on a large scale here.

1963 Kenya became independent, and the British evacuated, but left behind the tea planting technology and management.

It is said that English tea originated in China, so Kenyan tea should also be in the same strain.

Black tea is the best.

In the past 100 years, Kenya's tea industry has developed rapidly. Black tea produced in Kenya is also called "red broken tea". Tea soup is orange-red, with rich fragrance, mellow taste, high quality and low price, which is widely welcomed by European and American markets.

High-quality Kenyan black tea benefits from good natural conditions. Kenya is located in the east of Africa, with an altitude of 1500 ~ 2700 meters. It has a savanna climate, with an annual temperature of 65,438+0.4℃ ~ 26℃, abundant rainfall and sunshine, and is suitable for tea tree planting and growth all year round.

Secondly, the purity of the production process. About 5 million people in Kenya are engaged in tea production. Most of the tea leaves are picked manually, and even if some of them are done mechanically, the quality of tea buds is strictly guaranteed.

The qualified tea leaves are washed, and then the traditional black tea processing technology CTC (crushing-tearing-curling), that is, the process of crushing-tearing-curling, is adopted to make the tea leaves fully oxidized and fermented, so that the light green tea becomes brown-black. Workers will accurately control the fermentation time of tea leaves, and then dry the fermented tea leaves with a machine to produce excellent Kenyan black tea and form a unique Kenyan black tea.

At present, Kenya has become one of the important tea producers and exporters in the world and the largest tea producer in Africa. Tea industry plays an important role in Kenya's economy and is one of the three major foreign exchange earning industries in Kenya.

3. Purple tea found another way.

However, in the face of increasingly saturated market situation and fierce competition, global warming leads to frequent extreme weather, and droughts and floods are beyond human control. Kenya's black tea faces challenges, and its price continues to fall. As a result, the income of tea farmers has been greatly reduced, and even the basic life cannot be guaranteed. The foreign exchange income of tea has also reached a record low.

To this end, Kenya Tea Research Foundation released a purple tea variety.

Purple tea is cultivated by grafting rather than planting, and is researched and cultivated by Kenya Tea Research Foundation.

This new variety of Kenyan purple tea not only has a unique and attractive purple color, but also has a "natural but not bitter" flavor, which is also a big advantage to attract consumers.

According to reports, its tea soup contains a large number of health ingredients-anthocyanins. Anthocyanin is a natural antioxidant, which has the functions of anti-aging, anti-cancer and prevention of many diseases.

Clinically, purple tea extract can inhibit human fat intake and enhance liver fat metabolism.

More and more tea farmers are turning to purple tea. Compared with planting black tea, farmers who grow Kenyan purple tea can get higher income, which is three to four times that of planting black tea, so the economic situation of tea farmers has been greatly improved.

At present, the Kenyan government has reduced taxes and fees for tea farmers to increase their income and stabilize their exports. Under the challenge of market and environment, Kenya's tea industry has stood firm and revived.

Third, discuss how we should tell the story of tea well.

"Tea is tea, what else can it be?"

"Drinking tea is just a small matter. What does it have to do with the spiritual realm? "

"What's the connection between drinking tea and annoying metaphysical speculation?"

"What's the point of turning tea into some strange art?"

Thinking of this question, I compare tea to life. Just thinking about a question, is life meaningful? If I say that life is meaningful, I believe many people will support me. If I say that life is meaningless, I believe many people will object.

Let's watch a fantasy movie "Big Fish" in 2003: Is life ordinary or fantastic?

The film revolves around the reconciliation between father and son.

Father Edward was born to love freedom. As an adult, he chose to leave his hometown and embarked on a journey around the world. Along the way, Edward met all kinds of strange people, and his greatest interest in the future is to tell others endlessly about his fantastic journey.

Edward's son, Will, didn't believe his father's bizarre stories, and even felt extremely tired of them. When Will learned that his father was dying, he decided to see Edward for the last time. However, this time, Will finally discovered the mystery and truth behind these stories.

Like about life and death. Edward said that when he was born, he glided a few meters like a fish. When Edward died, he said that his son finally understood him, carried him out of the hospital and went straight to the river. The giant cleared the way and everyone in the story was seeing him off. The beloved woman waited for him by the river in a long pink dress. He turned into a fish and drifted away. Let the father's life achieve a perfect return, and death has become the last beautiful story of his father.

The movie Big Fish tells how an ordinary person turned an ordinary life into a life legend. Life is boring, and only when you meet interesting souls will you become alienated from light and shadow.

Yuval Harari, an Israeli historian, mentioned in "A Brief History of Humanity": "Humans are human beings who can tell stories." For example, the story about the origin of human beings depends on who you meet. Orientals say that Pangu created heaven and earth, while Westerners say that God created everything. People who can tell stories create meaning for a meaningless world.

For most people, tea is a bowl of delicious water. Isn't it because Lu Yu told a story about good tea that we are still drinking tea? Lu Yu tasted tea all his life. When he claimed to have discovered the secret of tea, he actually completed the exploration of his life. The "tea" after Lu Yu has indeed become an art and elegant culture that matches "Qin, strangeness, art, painting, tea, Dan, quietness and fragrance".

Eating and drinking tea is no longer a simple physical need, but also a lot of spiritual pursuits. Drinking tea can glow a different meaning in life: find a way to cultivate one's self-cultivation through tea.

Tea has an incredible connection with the Chinese Empire, which regulates the nerves of China people in different times and can bring a sense of belonging to the country. Through reminiscence, tea has also become a super symbol of Lu Yu. There are many nationalities in our country, and the methods of drinking tea are also very different. Drinking tea reflects the cultures of all ethnic groups.

Tea spread to Japan, where it can cure diseases. Tea was popularized in Japan because Rong cured General Nanben's heart disease.

Tea can enter France because Louis XIV heard that China and Japanese people don't have heart disease, and it's because they drink tea.

Nowadays, tea has spread all over the world and become the most popular drink in the world. Tea has become a symbol of China culture. Now, how can we China people tell a good story about tea? How to tell the story of China culture well?

But look at some problems in reality:

(1) The excessive packaging of tea leaves is deplorable. China people's attention to face-saving project has become a hotbed of over-packaging bad habits.

(2) Luxurious packaging and gimmicks have pushed the price of tea from 1 kg to several thousand yuan-financial speculation has hurt the industry. Ordinary Pu 'er tea has been played into financial tea? ......？

Tea is for drinking, not for frying. "Crazy tea market", who is behind the hype?

As the hometown of tea and a big country of tea, how can China keep pace with the times, make tea affordable, convenient and enjoyable for everyone, and achieve a balanced development in spiritual pleasure and economic benefits?