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Thesis
Read through modern tea science, “晋王濛好茶人至辄命饮之士大夫皆患之每欲往候必” is not a lab result but a set of variables: cultivar, soil, light and plucking standard.
Text
“Wang Meng of Jin loved tea, and pressed it on every visitor; the officials dreaded it, and whenever they meant to call they would say, ‘Today we must suffer the water-calamity.’”
Context
王濛:东晋大臣,嗜茶。水厄:被水害,指被迫饮茶。
Evidence
- Collation: 各本一致。"水厄"典出此,为茶史上著名的掌故。
- Existing readings: 吴觉农指出"水厄"一典可见晋代饮茶尚未普及:主人热情以茶待客,客人却视茶为"灾"——这恰是茶由小众走向大众的历史缩影。
Analysis
Modern tea science would split “晋王濛好茶人至辄命饮之士大夫皆患之每欲往候必” into cultivar, soil, light and plucking variables. 吴觉农指出"水厄"一典可见晋代饮茶尚未普及:主人热情以茶待客,客人却视茶为"灾"——这恰是茶由小众走向大众的历史缩影。 They remain testable, but only with their conditions attached.
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 VII · The History, section 8; the original is in the public domain.
Experience should be explained, not mystified.