Chapter II · The Implements · Section 2: At a contemporary tea table — reading “灶无用突者釜用唇口者”

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Thesis

“灶无用突者釜用唇口者” still has operational value at a contemporary tea table, provided Tang conditions are not silently universalised.

Text

“The stove should have no chimney; the cauldron should have a lipped rim.”

Context

突：烟囱。唇口：宽边、便于密封的锅口。蒸茶要用不设烟囱的灶、有宽口的锅。

Evidence

• Collation: 本句极简，各本无显著异文。吴觉农校注时特别说明"突"即烟囱，"唇口"指宽边锅沿。
• Existing readings: 吴觉农释此句：蒸茶用无烟囱的闷灶，便于保温聚汽；宽口锅则便于放入蒸屉。可见唐代蒸青对"密闭聚热"已有朴素认知。

Analysis

To repeat this section today is not to copy a Tang utensil list. It is to keep its order of judgment: leaf first, then water and fire, then the table.

Conclusion

The section does not give a universal rule. It demonstrates a method: read the text, the annotation and the Tang context together before making a modern claim.

Source: The Classic of Tea, Chapter II · The Implements, section 2; the original is in the public domain.

In Tang context, 吴觉农释此句：蒸茶用无烟囱的闷灶，便于保温聚汽；宽口锅则便于放入蒸屉。可见唐代蒸青对"密闭聚热"已有朴素认知。. Tea was tribute, medicine and monastery drink at once, not a standalone commodity; the conclusion cannot be transferred without that context.

Modern tea science would split the sentence into cultivar, soil, light and plucking variables. 吴觉农释此句：蒸茶用无烟囱的闷灶，便于保温聚汽；宽口锅则便于放入蒸屉。可见唐代蒸青对"密闭聚热"已有朴素认知。 The variables remain useful, but none of them alone explains the cup.

Storage adds another variable: moisture and temperature. 本句极简，各本无显著异文。吴觉农校注时特别说明"突"即烟囱，"唇口"指宽边锅沿。 Old and young tea do not share one shelf life, so “the older the better” is not a rule.