Chapter V · The Brewing · Section 5: Words and things — reading “凡炙茶慎勿于风烬间炙熛焰如钻使炎凉不均持以逼”

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Thesis

The key words in “凡炙茶慎勿于风烬间炙熛焰如钻使炎凉不均持以逼” are not ornament. They mark where Tang tea names, vessels and provenance meet.

Text

“When roasting the tea, beware of roasting over a windy ash-fire, where leaping flames make the heat uneven. Hold it near the fire and turn it again and again, until bumps rise like toad-backs, then move it five inches from the fire.”

Context

炙茶：烤茶饼。风烬：有风的灰烬。熛焰（biāo yàn）：飞腾的火焰。培塿（péi lǒu）：小土丘。蟆背：蟾蜍背。

Evidence

• Collation: 各本一致。吴觉农注：炙茶为唐代煮茶前置工序，烤出"蟆背"即火候恰好。
• Existing readings: 吴觉农指出"炙茶"是唐代特有工序：饼茶须先烤软、再碾末，烤至"蟆背"出香而不焦——此"文火慢烤"之法，与今人醒茶、焙香异曲同工。

Analysis

The annotation matters less as philology than as a distinction between name and thing. 各本一致。吴觉农注：炙茶为唐代煮茶前置工序，烤出"蟆背"即火候恰好。 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 V · The Brewing, 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. 吴觉农指出"炙茶"是唐代特有工序：饼茶须先烤软、再碾末，烤至"蟆背"出香而不焦——此"文火慢烤"之法，与今人醒茶、焙香异曲同工。 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：炙茶为唐代煮茶前置工序，烤出"蟆背"即火候恰好。 Old and young tea do not share one shelf life, so “the older the better” is not a rule.