On Tea

The book “On Tea” (Cha Shuo) was written in the year 1597 during the Ming dynasty. We choose to translate  “On Tea” because it clearly shows the most important development in the Ming dynasty with regard to tea. That is the widespread usage of loose tea instead of tea cakes. “On Tea” consists out of ten chapters, a preface and description, in which the usual topics such as production, taste, fragrance, preservation and origin are discussed. The language used in “On Tea” is quite clear and not as mysterious as some of the older tea books, this is also due to the fact that the form of tea, production methods, brewing methods, tea tools, etc used in the Ming dynasty were already very similar to those of nowadays.  

1. Preface
2. General Description
3. Chapter One- On Origin
4. Chapter Two- On Production   
5. Chapter Three and Four-  On Colour and On Fragrance
6. Chapter Five- On taste
7. Chapter Six and Seven- On Liquid and On Tea Ware    
8. Chapter Eight and Nine - On Companion and on Drinking    
9. Chapter Ten - On preserving