Tea Insights from Mr. Qian Mu — Especially Recommended for Gongfu Tea Beginners
If this can’t be explained clearly, would you be happy to sit down and give it a try? This is what true tea tasting is. He wouldn’t bring out the lowest-priced tea. First, we taste the ordinary tea, after a while, we taste the mid-grade tea, then the upper mid-grade tea, and finally, we taste their finest tea. But even that is not the best. Only after drinking in this way do we understand the differences in tea quality. This is not something that can be expressed in words, nor can it be understood by reading reference books.
All of life is like this—you have to experience it yourself to truly understand. This is what we call learning. Just like drinking tea, you need to taste it yourself. It was only after that morning that I truly understood drinking tea. At that time, I was teaching at a rural elementary school.
Later, when I went to a middle school, I had a colleague who taught English and enjoyed afternoon tea. Feeling lonely, he would often invite a few friends to join him. He would personally boil the water and brew the tea on the spot. He brewed tea in a gaiwan (lidded bowl). A bowl of tea had to be brewed three times for the flavor to be fully released. Among our group of friends, I was the only one who would always go.
After four years of this, I truly gained some skill in tea drinking. I learned that drinking tea is not just about the tea leaves; it also involves the water used for brewing, the heat of the fire, the teapot and cups, as well as the people, the place, and the time. This is why tea drinking becomes an important part of life, and it can even be said to be an art of life. Confucius said, “Study and practice regularly.” Drinking tea also requires regular practice. Later, when the war broke out and I fled to Kunming and Chengdu, I discovered that the people of Yunnan and Sichuan, like those from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, also loved drinking tea. There were teahouses everywhere, and good tea to be enjoyed. It became a delightful pastime during the difficult times of fleeing the war.
Quoted from Qian Mu, “From the Perspective of Chinese History: The Chinese National Character and Chinese Culture.”
All of life is like this—you have to experience it yourself to truly understand. This is what we call learning. Just like drinking tea, you need to taste it yourself. It was only after that morning that I truly understood drinking tea. At that time, I was teaching at a rural elementary school.
Later, when I went to a middle school, I had a colleague who taught English and enjoyed afternoon tea. Feeling lonely, he would often invite a few friends to join him. He would personally boil the water and brew the tea on the spot. He brewed tea in a gaiwan (lidded bowl). A bowl of tea had to be brewed three times for the flavor to be fully released. Among our group of friends, I was the only one who would always go.
After four years of this, I truly gained some skill in tea drinking. I learned that drinking tea is not just about the tea leaves; it also involves the water used for brewing, the heat of the fire, the teapot and cups, as well as the people, the place, and the time. This is why tea drinking becomes an important part of life, and it can even be said to be an art of life. Confucius said, “Study and practice regularly.” Drinking tea also requires regular practice. Later, when the war broke out and I fled to Kunming and Chengdu, I discovered that the people of Yunnan and Sichuan, like those from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, also loved drinking tea. There were teahouses everywhere, and good tea to be enjoyed. It became a delightful pastime during the difficult times of fleeing the war.
Quoted from Qian Mu, “From the Perspective of Chinese History: The Chinese National Character and Chinese Culture.”