This is the Chinese drink of drinks. Tea is a symbol of earthly purity. It's preparation calls for the most fastidious cleanliness from the time of picking and drying of the leaves to the final infusion and drinking. Tea is easily spoilt by the slightest contamination of oily hand or cups, or scent. It must therefore be kept away from scent of any kind. It has been pointed out that tea resembles the recluse and is for quit company. It can only be enjoyed in an atmosphere where there is no ostentation or suggestion of luxury. it is said that wine can be enjoyed with sing-song girls, but not tea.
For more than a thousand years tea drinking has given the greatest pleasure in Chinese life. it is for more than just quenching of thirst. It is for relaxation in quiet company. With children or babies crying or people quarreling it would be impossible to enjoy the tea. The atmosphere for drinking should be such that it leads to quiet contemplation and to the realms of the immortals. this is exactly what a scholar of the seventh century A.D. said. He wrote about his tea drinking pleasure:
The first cup moistens my lips and throat
The second cup breaks my loneliness,
The third cup searches my barren entrails,
The fourth cup raises a slight perspiration,
The fifth cup purifies me,
The sixth cup calls me to the realms of the immortals,
The seventh cup - Ah, but I can take no more.
Chinese tea cups are small, unlike the huge teacups or tumbles of the West. Drinking from huge cups in large quantities is vulgar and loses the whole essence of tea drinking. Some call it buffalo's drink.
In the West people also enjoy drinking tea, but they drink it differently from the Chinese, from large cups and in large quantities. It is not for us to criticize. Our cultures are different and our objectives are different. Samuel Johnson wrote this:
I am a hardened and shameless tea drinker,
who has for many years diluted his meal with only infusion
of this fascinating plant; whose kettle has scarcely time to cool;
who with tea amuses the evening,
with tea solaces the midnight and
with tea welcomes the morning.
