Chapter IV · The Vessels · Section 7: At a contemporary tea table — reading “其沸如鱼目微有声为一沸缘边如涌泉连珠为二沸腾”

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Thesis

“其沸如鱼目微有声为一沸缘边如涌泉连珠为二沸腾” still has operational value at a contemporary tea table, provided Tang conditions are not silently universalised.

Text

“When it first boils, with fish-eye bubbles and a faint sound, that is the first boil; when the rim seethes like linked pearls, the second; when it surges like waves, the third. Beyond this the water is old and undrinkable.”

Context

（此句与前文三沸同义，此为五之煮中的完整表述）一沸如鱼目、二沸如连珠、三沸如鼓浪，过三沸水老不可饮。

Evidence

• Collation: 此段与五之煮核心内容呼应，为《茶经》火候名论，各本一致。
• Existing readings: 吴觉农指出三沸之说被后世茶人奉为圭臬：一沸至二沸之间（约 85-90℃）是冲泡最佳时机，三沸则水老——今人"蟹眼过后鱼眼生"的辨水歌谣皆源于此。

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 IV · The Vessels, section 7; the original is in the public domain.

The vessel is not background. （此句与前文三沸同义，此为五之煮中的完整表述）一沸如鱼目、二沸如连珠、三沸如鼓浪，过三沸水老不可饮。 The same leaf in a different bowl, grinder or sieve changes aroma and texture; vessel and tea are defined together.

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.

In Tang context, 吴觉农指出三沸之说被后世茶人奉为圭臬：一沸至二沸之间（约 85-90℃）是冲泡最佳时机，三沸则水老——今人"蟹眼过后鱼眼生"的辨水歌谣皆源于此。. Tea was tribute, medicine and monastery drink at once, not a standalone commodity; the conclusion cannot be transferred without that context.