Requirements on Tea Utensils
Four crystal glass cups, alcohol burner, one set of tea utensils, one tea caddy, one teaspoon, one water tank, one stick of incense, one fragrant stove, one tea scarf, West Lake Dragon Well Tea (12g) and one wooden tea tray.
Process and Interpretation
"There are 36 west-lakes in the world, but the one in Hangzhou is the brightest one". The West Lake in Hangzhou is surrounded by cloudy mountains and a city, its waters clear and beautiful. The Dragon Well Tea is famous for its "green color, aromatic taste and beauty", it was entitled as the "Royal Tea" by Emperor Qianlong. After the establishment of P.R.C. Primer Zhou had listed West Lake Dragon Well Tea, Maotai wine and Zhong Hua cigarettes as the "Three National precious treatments" to customers. Today, I would like to invite you to have a try on the famous West Lake Dragon Well Tea.
The first procedure, censoring to remove improper thoughts. Dragon Well Tea is regarded as amazing and helpful water to comfort the human interior world, which requires a censoring procedure before savoring tea.
The second procedure, removing the dust of tiredness. Dragon Well Tea is such a pure and holy thing that it needs appropriate utensils to brew and drink the tea. Removing the dust of tiredness means using hot water to wash the cups again to show respect to guests.
The third procedure, a jade pot keeps balance. Apply hot water at a temperature of 80°C so that it can have the perfect effect for tea drinking without destroying the ingredients from the fresh tea buds.
The fourth procedure, nice palace to welcome beauty. Su Dongpo has a poem Just Playing on Words to Get Your Laugh Because Nice Tea always Like Beauty. He compared good tea to beauty, which indicates putting tea leaves gently into the cups.
The fifth procedure, amrita moists the heart of the lotus. Emperor Qian Long named the Fresh Dragon Well Tea "moisturing lotus", it is suggested that it takes the "middle" delivering way to brew special Dragon Well Tea, which means pouring a little bit of hot water after putting the tea leaves into the cups, adding more hot water to brew it properly after smelling the aroma.
The sixth procedure, the phoenix nodding head three times. Which means that when pouring water shaking the water pot rhythmically three tames without break stream of the water. This vivid description of the phoenix nodding head is to show respect to guests.
The seventh procedure, the guanyin holding a jade bottle. Which means serving the tea to guests and wishing good people a nice life.
The eighth procedure, spring wave to show the flag and spear. It is called hatching the dancing in the cup", which is the special procedure of the tea art with Dragon Well Tea. Please look at the cup, the hot water has the green color of life, the fresh buds are growing in the hot water and displaying their beautiful shapes, some are as sharp as spears, some as fiat as flags, one bud with one leaf is called "flag and spear', two leaves holding one bud is called 'Sparrow tongue'. Some stand up at the bottom of the cup, like a beauty standing in the water, some lie down at the bottom like blossom in spring. This vivid movement in the cup is really attractive.
The ninth procedure, smart heart to understand the tea aroma. The way to savour Dragon Well Tea is first glance at it, secondly to smell the tea and thirdly to taste it. After watching the dance of tea in the cup, before we taste it, let's smell the aroma first. The aroma of Dragon Well Tea is a sort of bean flower smell, which is fresh and elegant. Emperor Qian Long said "the plum blossom is a blowing aroma to me" after he smelled it, so, please have a try to smell the aroma from heaven.
The tenth procedure, get the supreme flavour from a light savour. Trying the Dragon Well Tea is like "the first sip feels like drinking amrita, which brings a persuasive fragrance in mouth", a famous tea scholar Lu Cizhi described Dragon Well Tea, aromatic but not cold, you only could get the supreme taste after a little while between the cheeks in your mouth, although it tasted nothing at first." Now please take your time to try the tea, wishing you full enjoyment of its aroma and flavour, have a good, long life under the inspiration of its supreme flavour.
This is all for the tea art of the Dragon Well Tea, please continue your savoring of the tea and have a good time.
