The Tea Companion [antikvár]

The S T 0 R 0 F T E A Hand-rolling leaves in seventeenth century China. odor on their fingertips should contaminate the delicate leaves. Tea became important enough during this period for a group of merchants to commission the writer, Lu Yu (a.d. 733-804), to compile the first ever book about tea. His Cha Chang, known as the Classic of Tea, describes all possible aspects, including the plant's origins and characteristics, different varieties, the processing of the leaf and the tools needed, the brewing of the beverage, tea equipage, the qualities of water in different locarions, tea's medicinal qualiries, and tea-drinking traditions. During the Tang Dynasty, the young leaves, once picked, were steamed, crushed, and then mixed to a paste with plum juice which acted as a natural glue to bind the particles firmly together. The paste was then poured into molds, compressed into cakes, and baked unril dry. To brew a cup of tea, the cake was roasted in the fire until it softened enough to be crushed to a powder which was then boiled in water. In some parts of China, salt was added, giving the tea a bitter aftertaste, while the most common flavorings were sweet onions, ginger, orange peel, cloves, and peppermint—added to the water before boiling with the tea or thrown in afterward. Later, under the Song Dynasty (a.d. 960-1279), the compressed tea cake was ground to a very fine powder and whisked into boiling water to produce a frothy liquid. After drinking the first cup, more boiling