Monday, January 14, 2008
Posted by 醉茶生 at 08:30 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Categories: Tea Green White Tea Related

Lu Yü 陸羽 introduces the medicinal uses of tea in the first chapter of the Tea Classic《茶經》：「茶之為用，味至寒，為飲最宜」 ‘As to the usage of the tea leaf, its flavour is exceedingly cooling and is best used as a beverage’.  He then proceeds to list the conditions against which it is effective, but also cautions that 「采不時．．．飲之成疾」 ‘If plucked at the wrong time…then drinking it will cause disease.’

It is not probably true that plucking tea out of season will cause disease in the drinker, but it is true that the best tea leaves are taken from the spring and autumn harvests.  Most teas (but not all) use only the youngest leaves, which are sweeter, as older leaves tend to produce a bitter and more astringent brew.  The preference for younger leaves has a number of consequences: the number of leaves harvested and frequency with which they can be harvested must both be limited to avoid killing the plant.  The plants are sometimes guarded so jealously that some plantations have a spring harvest only.  All teas are seasonal to an extent, but the most treasured of seasonal teas are probably Míngqián Lóngjǐng 明前龍井 and Yínzhēn Báiháo 銀針白毫 (literally, “silver needle white fur”).  Longjing is the most highly regarded tea in China and the leaves plucked before the festival of Qīngmíng 清明 (usually around early April every year) are believed to have the strongest fragrance.  Yinzhen is a white tea, made from the first leaves of spring still covered with the silvery white fur that gives the tea its name and also its sugar candy-like sweetness.

Miss Neddy adds her two cents:

Míngqián Lóngjǐng is aso known as Yüqián Lóngjǐng (雨前龙井), as the festival of Qīngmíng is usually associated with the advent of spring rains.* A famous poem during the Tang Dynasty by Dù Mù 杜牧 highlights this association:

唐·杜牧 Tang [Dynasty] · Dù Mù
清明时节雨纷纷， During Qīngmíng, the rain falls copiously,

路上行人欲断魂。 The passer-byers seem as severed spirits.

借问酒家何处有？ I asked, “Where is the tavern?”

牧童遥指杏花村。 The cowherd pointed towards Almond Blossom Village.

*[Edit: Miss Neddy has made a mistake. Míngqián Lóngjǐng comes just a while before Yüqián Lóngjǐng. More specifically, Míngqián Lóngjǐng is harvested between the 25th of the 3rd lunar month and 5th of the 4th lunar month, while Yüqián Lóngjǐng is harvested between the 6th and the 20th of the 4th lunar month.  Of the two harvests, Míngqián Lóngjǐng is considered the superior. Colloquially though, some tea drinkers do not make a distinction between the two.

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