Chapter IV · The Vessels · Section 5: Words and things — reading “其火用炭次用劲薪其炭曾经燔炙为膻腻所及及膏木”

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Thesis

The key words in “其火用炭次用劲薪其炭曾经燔炙为膻腻所及及膏木” are not ornament. They mark where Tang tea names, vessels and provenance meet.

Text

“For the fire, charcoal is best, and sturdy firewood next. Charcoal that has been used for roasting, stained with fat and rankness, as well as resinous wood and rotten utensils, must not be used.”

Context

劲薪：耐烧的柴。燔炙（fán zhì）：烧烤过。膻腻：腥膻油腻。膏木：有油脂的松柏等木。败器：腐朽的器物。

Evidence

• Collation: 各本一致。吴觉农注：此句讲燃料选择，“膏木”"败器"皆能产生异味与烟气，破坏茶香。
• Existing readings: 吴觉农评此句为"燃料学"：炭火无烟无味最宜煮茶，沾油之炭与松柏膏木皆会串味——陆羽对火候细节的讲究，尽显茶道"洁净"之美。

Analysis

The annotation matters less as philology than as a distinction between name and thing. 各本一致。吴觉农注：此句讲燃料选择，“膏木”"败器"皆能产生异味与烟气，破坏茶香。 Once names settle, picking, grading and trade can share a language.

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 IV · The Vessels, section 5; the original is in the public domain.

Water and fire magnify the difference. The same leaf at a higher temperature or a longer steep changes the sweet-bitter balance; the text only becomes operational at the brewing stage.

Modern tea science would split the sentence into cultivar, soil, light and plucking variables. 吴觉农评此句为"燃料学"：炭火无烟无味最宜煮茶，沾油之炭与松柏膏木皆会串味——陆羽对火候细节的讲究，尽显茶道"洁净"之美。 The variables remain useful, but none of them alone explains the cup.

Storage adds another variable: moisture and temperature. 各本一致。吴觉农注：此句讲燃料选择，“膏木”"败器"皆能产生异味与烟气，破坏茶香。 Old and young tea do not share one shelf life, so “the older the better” is not a rule.