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

Photo: Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0

Thesis

Read through modern tea science, “或用葱姜枣橘皮茱萸薄荷之等煮之百沸或扬令滑或” is not a lab result but a set of variables: cultivar, soil, light and plucking standard.

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

Modern tea science would split “或用葱姜枣橘皮茱萸薄荷之等煮之百沸或扬令滑或” 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。 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 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.

Storage adds another variable: moisture and temperature. “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。 Old and young tea do not share one shelf life, so “the older the better” is not a rule.