http://www.leavesofjade.com/index.php/tea_blog/index/ en alnedra.mofi@gmail.com Copyright 2008 2008-09-25T13:17:09+08:00 http://www.leavesofjade.com/index.php/tea_blog/apologies1/ http://www.leavesofjade.com/index.php/tea_blog/apologies1/#When:13:17:09Z Miss Neddy has injured her hand and begs your forgiveness. She will resume the blog as soon as her hand has somewhat healed. Notices And News 2008-09-25T13:17:09+08:00 http://www.leavesofjade.com/index.php/tea_blog/midautumn_sweetness/ http://www.leavesofjade.com/index.php/tea_blog/midautumn_sweetness/#When:14:58:54Z Last night was the Chinese Midautumn Festival (although some places, such as Hong Kong, are celebrating it today). It is said that the moon on the fifteenth night of the eighth lunar month is its fullest and most beautiful. And just as the moon reaches completion, so does the family. As a rule, all family members must come home to have dinner during the Midautumn Festival, and the children will play with lanterns, while adults may guess riddles that are written on paper lanterns, or stripes of paper hung from the lanterns. Mooncakes are another traditional item associated with Midautumn. Generally made with lotus paste as the filling - although there are many varieties nowadays to tickle the consumer’s fancy, such as ice-cream, durian or even bird’s nest and pearl powder - the mooncake is quite sweet, almost sickeningly so. Some mooncakes may have 1 to 4 (or even up to 9 for the larger mooncakes!) salted duck egg yolks inside, that adds richness to the already rich lotus paste, but also helps mitigate the sweetness. Tea leaves are commonly packaged with mooncakes as gifts, as tea is the beverage to go with mooncakes. The cleansing lightness of tea helps remove the over-satitated feeling that eating mooncakes can bring, and helps bring out the fragrance of the lotus paste. It is a wonderful family gathering where the children run about with their lanterns, while the adults sit back, gaze at the moon, and sip tea in between tiny slivers of sweet mooncake.  Tea Related 2008-09-15T14:58:54+08:00 http://www.leavesofjade.com/index.php/tea_blog/apologies/ http://www.leavesofjade.com/index.php/tea_blog/apologies/#When:17:08:49Z Most humble apologies from Miss Neddy. She went away to a country which loves tea, and has but recently returned. She will resume blogging shortly. Many thanks for your kind attention, gentle reader. Notices And News 2008-09-01T17:08:49+08:00 http://www.leavesofjade.com/index.php/tea_blog/bai_juyi/ http://www.leavesofjade.com/index.php/tea_blog/bai_juyi/#When:13:53:53Z Bái Jūyì 白居易 (772—846) was a poet of the late Tang dynasty. He is considered one of the most accessible of the Tang Dynasty poets. Juyi had a strong sense of social responsibility and many of his poems deal with poverty and the plight of the common people, while satirizing the government and ruling classes of his day. His career was initially very successful: he was made a scholar of the Hanlin Academy (翰林學士) and Reminder of the Left (左赞善大夫), but lost favour for remonstrating too forcefully and was exiled from the capital to become Minister for Works of Jiangzhou (江州司馬). In his later years, he became an admirer of Buddhism (at that time a new religion) and is therefore sometimes known as the “Buddha of Poetry” (詩佛). He insisted on using only simple language, and it was said that even “old women could understand” 「老嫗能解」 his poetry. His most famous work is the long narrative poem, The Song of Eternal Sorrow 《长恨歌》, which tells the story of Yang Guifei, the ill-fated Imperial concubine. Juyi wrote the poem 《山泉煎茶有懷》about the pleasures of drinking tea made using water from a mountain stream. 坐酌泠泠水﹐ zuò zhuó lěng lěng shuǐ I sit pouring the cold cold water. 看煎瑟瑟塵。 kàn jiān sè sè chén I see the wind stirring the dust. 無由持一碗﹐ wú yóu chǐ yī wǎn There is nothing like holding a cup 寄與愛茶人。 jì yù ài chá rén of tea sent to a tea lover. Tea Related 2008-08-06T13:53:53+08:00 http://www.leavesofjade.com/index.php/tea_blog/far_flung_consort/ http://www.leavesofjade.com/index.php/tea_blog/far_flung_consort/#When:06:20:55Z Wang Zhaojun was indubitably an intelligent woman, and it was said that she was skilled in many arts, such as the playing of the pipa, chess and calligraphy. When the Han emperor Yuan was asked by the Xiongnu chanyu (chief) Hu Hanxie for a Han princess to marry, he either picked Zhaojun because she was portrayed by a corrupt Imperial artist as the plainest woman in his harem; or Zhaojun volunteered, knowing that her refusal to bribe her way to meet the emperor would mean she would spend her life alone in the harem.  When the Han emperor first saw who he was sending to the barbarians, he was stunned by her beauty. The artist responsible for marring her potrait, Mao Yanshou, was executed (with sufficient cause - deceiving the emperor in any way is a crime punishable by death). Wang Zhaojun is often depicted departing for the regions beyond the Great Wall cloaked in fur-lined red silk and clutching her pipa. The purple clay Wang Zhaojun teapot is long and slender, its shape reminiscent of the pipa so closely associated with her. The handle is slightly notched, to mimic the tailpiece where the strings are anchored near the bottom of the instrument.It is the only teapot whose lid is not crowned with a knob, but with a half-ring - the top of the pipa is usually a loop or a lingzhi shaped adornment, decorated further by carvings or a jade piece.  The teapot sits squarely and firmly, well-grounded in comparison to the small-bottomed Yang Guifei teapot, or the almost-floating Diaochan teapot. The base of the teapot holds a surprise: Three parallel bars are engraved around the seal of the maker, creating the “strings” for this clay pipa. The top-down view does not do the teapot sufficient justice, as it looks slightly tear-dropped shaped only. In fact, there are two very faint indentations on either side of the teapot. I am not entirely sure why the indentations are there, but it could be to imitate the ripple-like frets that are at the top of the pipa. Like the other teapots, it is surprisingly light for its size, and its generous spout is very fitting with the overall design, as its lines are very strong throughout. Tea Related, Teapots 2008-08-05T06:20:55+08:00 http://www.leavesofjade.com/index.php/tea_blog/7_bowls_of_tea/ http://www.leavesofjade.com/index.php/tea_blog/7_bowls_of_tea/#When:14:08:00Z “A message of thanks to Meng Jianyi for the gift of new tea” 《走筆謝孟諫議寄新茶》was written by Lú Tóng 盧仝 in the middle of the Tang Dynasty (around 1200 years ago). The entire is 34 lines long, but it is usually only the last 14 lines that are seen. My first encounter with the poem was on a wooden panel in a tea house in Singapore more than ten years ago, and I have since seen it printed on tea canisters and on paper bags. 一碗喉吻潤 yì wǎn hóu wén rùn The first cup moistens my throat. 兩碗破孤悶﹔liáng wǎn pò gū mèn The second cup eases my loneliness. 三碗搜枯腸﹔sān wǎn sōu kū cháng The third cup searches out my withered entrails, 唯有文字五千卷﹔wéi yǒu wén zì wǔ qiān juàn like an essay of five thousand words. (The metaphor is alien to Western thinking. It refers to the intestines as an organ of thought and inspiration.) 四碗發輕汗﹐sì wǎn fā qīng hàn After the fourth cup, I break a light sweat, 平生不平事﹐盡向毛孔散﹔píng shēng bù píng shì Leaching the troubles of my life out of my body. 五碗肌骨輕﹐Wǔ wǎn jí gǔ qīng After the fifth cup, my bones and sinews relax. 六碗通仙靈﹔ After the sixth cup, I entered the realm of the immortals. 七碗吃不得也﹐唯覺兩習習清風生﹗ After the seventh cup, a wind rises beneath my arms. 蓬萊山﹐在何處﹖Péng lái shān zài hé chù Where is Mount Penglai? (Mount Penglai is the mythical abode of the immortals somewhere in the Pacific Ocean to which the Qin Emperor attempted to sail) 玉川子乘此清風欲歸去。 Yù chuān zǐ chéng cǐ qīng fēng yù guī qù I shall ride the gentle breeze (Yuchuanzi 玉川子 was Lu Tong’s courtesy name) 山上群仙司下土地位清高隔風雨。 Shān shàng qún xiān sī xià tǔ dì lì qīng gāo gé fēng yǔ To the mountain-top land of the immortals that is separated from the mortal realm by a clear wall of wind and rain. The poem describes the occasion of a gift of tea leaves from his friend, Meng Jianyi (hence its title), but for obvious reasons, the poem is more commonly known as “The poem of seven cups"《七碗茶詩》, or as “Yuchuan’s Song of Tea” 《玉川茶歌》. This poem, along with the Tea Sage Lu Yu, are the most commonly seen references to classical literature in Chinese tea houses. The complete poem may be found at AnxiTeaCo.com. Tea Related 2008-07-30T14:08:00+08:00 http://www.leavesofjade.com/index.php/tea_blog/sable_and_cicada/ http://www.leavesofjade.com/index.php/tea_blog/sable_and_cicada/#When:14:42:00Z Of the four beauties, there is one who is arguably a fictional character. While she plays in important role in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三国演义), Diaochan (貂蝉) is not found in any historical accounts or records of the Three Kingdoms period. Morally too, she seems an ambiguous character, as her seduction of the foster father and son Dong Zhuo and Lü Bu in order to cause conflict between them was primarily motivated by her filial piety towards her own foster father, Wang Yun. However, there are later accounts of her death by the hand of Guan Yü, a righteous general who served Liu Bei, when she attempts to seduce him. As Diaochan is somewhat a cipher in history, I find the teapot named after her somewhat puzzling too. Of the four teapots, the grey clay Diaochan teapot is the heaviest and most angular. From certain angles, it has a light grace, seeming to float a little off the surface of the table, and its notched ear hints at feminine curves . But from other angles, it seems squat and awkward, perhaps to hark back to Diaochan’s humble origins; she was a peasant, supposedly nameless, until sold into Wang Yun’s household. On the other hand, she had seduced both Dong Zhuo and Lü Bu with her dancing, her singing and music playing, so she could not have been too clumsy a girl. My friend A. speculated that the grey clay and squatness hint at the animalistic qualities of her name, lending a primeval and primitive air to the teapot. There are 2 qualities of the teapot that I love, though; it is the smoothest of the four, as it feels like a river-worn stone, and the grey hues make it resemble a natural object even more. The other is that despite its angularity, it sits very comfortably in the hand. The handle is generously large enough and the wide lid allows for a relaxed hold. It feels robust enough that I do not fear breaking it if I held it too tight, as I do the other teapots, although I do not quite consider that a point in its favour; after all, it is named after a graceful dancer, and should have a certain level of delicacy to it. Nonetheless, its somewhat contradictory qualities make it stand out, and it is worthy of the equivocal lady herself.  Tea Related, Teapots 2008-07-28T14:42:00+08:00 http://www.leavesofjade.com/index.php/tea_blog/tea_joy/ http://www.leavesofjade.com/index.php/tea_blog/tea_joy/#When:14:02:00Z There is a tea shop in Singapore, at North Bridge Centre, opposite the National Library. Their name in English is “Tea Joy”, and their name in Chinese is Cháyuè 茶樂. Their name has always confused me, because yuè 樂 means ‘music’, and lè 樂 (same character but different pronunciation) means ‘joy’, which suggests that they can’t read their own name, but that’s probably just me being rude. The setting is a little cramped (or “cosy”, as they call it in the rental market). The shop conforms to the Chinese stereotype of a xuān 軒, which is a traditional long narrow shop (the word “xuan”, also means corridor), with the shop counter running along one wall and canisters of tea leaves along the other. A selection of tea pots, porcelain and other tea paraphernalia line the shop window. There are four closely placed tables between the two walls each of which seat four, but I have never (thankfully) been to the shop when it was full. Perhaps because I am only ever there in the evening, I am almost always the only person there. It probably says more about me than it does about the tea house, but the thing that made a lasting impression on me when I first visited the tea house many years ago is this: On the wall, there hangs a scroll with two thin lines of Chinese calligraphy written in one corner of an otherwise empty sheet of silk: 客來茶當酒 kè lái chá dāng jiǔ 閒眠亦如仙 xián mián yì rú xiān As with all these things, it loses something in the translation, but my attempt reads, “[I serve] tea instead of wine to my guest; and when the time comes to rest, we shall sleep the sleep of the immortals.” The first line refers to a poem titled 〈寒夜〉 by the Song Dynasty poet, Dù Lěi 杜耒, that speaks of a bamboo stove and plum blossoms on a cold spring evening. The second line is startling, because tea is more usually associated with wakefulness instead of sleep, and is recommended as an antidote to the effects of alcohol. Needing tea as an aid to sleep is therefore probably the sign of a tea addict. Tea Related 2008-07-23T14:02:00+08:00 http://www.leavesofjade.com/index.php/tea_blog/her_cloudlike_clothes_her_flowerlike_face/ http://www.leavesofjade.com/index.php/tea_blog/her_cloudlike_clothes_her_flowerlike_face/#When:15:00:00Z One of my favourite teapots, the Yang Guifei pot is based on a poem by Li Bai, who had served the Emperor Xuanzong and wrote the poem to flatter his favoured consort Yang. 云想衣裳花想容， 春风拂槛露华浓。 Clouds remind me of her garments, flowers bring to mind her face; the spring wind brushes past to reveal a luscious bloom. 若非群玉山头见， 会向瑶台月下逢。 If I had not encountered her at the peaks of the Jade Mountain*, it must be beneath the Jade Platform one moonlit night^ we met. (Apologies for mangling the great poet; I attempted as literal a translation as possible). The teapot from the side looks like a stylised cloud, as one might see in classical Chinese paintings, or Chinese religious carvings. From the top, it resembles a flower in bloom, perhaps the peony, a flower often associated with royalty, and in its plumpness, with the zaftig Yang Guifei. The teapot is made of zisha tinted to resemble red clay, and the surface is smooth but with very fine bumps, uncannily like human skin. The “roof-beam” handle is a little short for bigger hands, but just right for smaller ones; obviously this is a pot made for women. The pot is round and plump, but tapers down with a dancer’s grace at the base; Yang Guifei was known to be a skilled dancer. The side view is also reminiscent of a dancer’s upper body, one arm (the spout) stretched out, one arm (the handle) curved slightly towards the head. Despite the small base, the pot is very well-balanced, possibly because the generous spout and upswung handle provide adequate counter-weights. Despite its fairly large volume, the pot is very light, which means the walls of the pot are made very, very thin. *The Jade Mountain is a real location in Taiwan, but in this poem actually means a mountain in the celestial realm (Chinese Heaven, one might say). ^The word 瑶 yáo means a type of precious jade, whereas the word for Jade Mountain 玉 yǜ is a more generic term. The Jade Platform refers to another celestial abode, a terrace or tower, and as evinced by the name, is made of or decorated with countless precious jewels. Tea Related, Teapots 2008-07-21T15:00:00+08:00 http://www.leavesofjade.com/index.php/tea_blog/savour/ http://www.leavesofjade.com/index.php/tea_blog/savour/#When:14:38:00Z Green tea has more recently become popular in the West because of its high anti-oxidant content (polyphenols), which is reputed to protect against a variety of ills, including heart disease and cancer. To this end, many supermarkets now stock at least a few varieties of green tea. Most green teas sold in the West are heavily flavoured with fruit or flower, largely with the intention of masking the smell of the tea. If you are used to drinking black tea, then the savoury, meaty taste of green tea is startling and may put you off. Chinese green tea and Japanese green tea are different beasts. They are similar in that heat is applied very early in processing to stop enzymes from breaking down the phenolic compounds in tea (the all-important anti-oxidant bit). In Chinese tea, the heat is applied in a hot metal pan (much like a wok), which removes some of the colour and imparts a savoury fragrance very reminiscent of meat (which comes from pyrazines and pyrroles). In Japanese tea, the heat is applied as steam, which preserves much of the grassy taste of the leaves, allows it to retain a fresh green colour even when dried, and is also responsible for the distinctive seaweed flavour of Japanese green tea (dimethyl sulphide). Tea contains a unique amino acid called theanine, which is able to cross into the brain and produce feelings of relaxation and improve cognition. Some of it breaks down to glutamic acid, which is a flavour enhancer. Tea also contains guanosine monophosphate and inosine monophosphate, which are both flavour enhancers as well, and serve to further intensify the savoury taste of green tea. Lu K, Gray M, Oliver C, Liley D, Harrison B, Bartholomeusz C, Phan K, Nathan P (2004). “The acute effects of L-theanine in comparison with alprazolam on anticipatory anxiety in humans”. Hum Psychopharmacol 19 (7): 457–65. doi:10.1002/hup.611. PMID 15378679. Haskell CF, Kennedy DO, Milne AL, Wesnes KA, Scholey AB (2008). “The effects of l-theanine, caffeine and their combination on cognition and mood”. Biol Psychol 77 (2): 113–22. Tea, Green 2008-07-18T14:38:00+08:00