Chapter One: On Origin

Tea grows everywhere. Luyu has explicated tea of high quality before. It is piteous that those were only premium in the past time, as better ones are made nowadays. If Tiger Hill tea in Suzhou is regarded as the best, then Luojie tea follows while Tianchi, Longjing and Fulong tea are the lowest. If Songluo made in Xin’an is regarded as the best, then the tea made in Langyuang and Cangxi follows, while the tea made in the Yellow Mountain is the lowest.  Nowadays the tea made in Wuyi Mountain, Cloud and Fog Mountain, Yandang Mountain and Ling Mountain are all of good quality. Tea produced in Jinlingshe Mountain is pretty good, yet its yield amount is low as only few tea bushes grow over there. All the other tea produced in Hangzhou and Zhejiang are all counterfeit Songluo tea in the name of Tiger Hill and Tianchi.  These kinds of counterfeit teas are not worth any appreciation.  Authentic Tiger Hill tea is noticeable for its jade green colour and a lovely fragrance, which resembles the fragrance of  about-to-bloom orange flowers.  This tea gains its reputation from these characteristics. Authentic Songluo is made by monks. The brewed tea has a colour resembling green bamboo, a fragrance resembling orchid and a taste resembling sweet dew. The colour, fragrance and taste in the last infusions remains miraculously similar to that of the very first infusion.  Tea drinkers shall identify the counterfeit tea made in Xuanchi, whose tea liquid turns muddled and dark immediately after the infusion. Another good tea is named Liu’an, it is esteemed by monks in temples and monasteries, yet never mentioned by the literate.