Chapter VI · The Drinking · Section 3: A common misreading — reading “或用葱姜枣橘皮茱萸薄荷之等煮之百沸或扬令滑或”

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Thesis

The common mistake is to lift “或用葱姜枣橘皮茱萸薄荷之等煮之百沸或扬令滑或” out of its sentence and turn it into an absolute rule.

Text

“Some add scallion, ginger, jujube, tangerine peel, cornel, and mint, boiling it a hundred times, or stirring it slippery, or skimming off the froth. This is nothing but ditchwater — yet the custom persists.”

Context

唐代流行往茶里加葱姜枣等煮饮，陆羽对此很不以为然，说那简直是沟渠里的弃水。

Evidence

• Collation: “茱萸"或作"茱萸子”，各本有详略之异；“煮之百沸"四库本作"煮之百沸”，为夸张修辞，各本一致。
• Existing readings: 吴觉农评此句为陆羽最尖锐的批评：唐代"痷茶"（加料煮饮）是主流，陆羽力主清饮，其"沟渠弃水"之讥实为茶道清流派的宣言——今日纯茶清饮正由此开。

Analysis

The usual misreading extracts “或用葱姜枣橘皮茱萸薄荷之等煮之百沸或扬令滑或” as a slogan. “茱萸"或作"茱萸子”，各本有详略之异；“煮之百沸"四库本作"煮之百沸”，为夸张修辞，各本一致。 In fact every judgment in the chapter carries a limit of place, season and use.

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 VI · The Drinking, section 3; 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.

In Tang context, 吴觉农评此句为陆羽最尖锐的批评：唐代"痷茶"（加料煮饮）是主流，陆羽力主清饮，其"沟渠弃水"之讥实为茶道清流派的宣言——今日纯茶清饮正由此开。. 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. 吴觉农评此句为陆羽最尖锐的批评：唐代"痷茶"（加料煮饮）是主流，陆羽力主清饮，其"沟渠弃水"之讥实为茶道清流派的宣言——今日纯茶清饮正由此开。 The variables remain useful, but none of them alone explains the cup.