Emperor Huizong, Part 4

(Read part 1, part 2, part 3).

For this last part of the review of Patricia Buckley Ebrey's book, let's examine how Huizong enjoyed his tea! Most of the quotes come from Chapter 10 entitled 'Finding Pleasure in Court and Palace Life'.

Page 284 

From the account of an 1120 party in Extended Blessing Palace: "Huizong called for attendants to bring the tea equipment, then with his own hands he poured the water and whisked the tea. Before long the white foam in the teacup resembled scattered stars and the moon. The emperor turned to us and said, "This is tea I made myself.""

Comment: This story shows what a kind and friendly emperor Huizong was. It was not beneath him to prepare tea for his guests. This also shows that preparing tea isn't a chore, but an entertainment that requires skills, experience and that rewards you with a delicious beverage.

 Page 296

"After three rounds of wine, Huizong told his guests to enjoy themselves and not worry about etiquette. Then he offered them newly arrived tea specially prepared using spring water."

Comment: We see that Huizong is a entertaining host. He starts with wine in order to let the guests relax and then continues with tea. This shows that the 2 beverages were used in a complementary way. As spring is approaching, we can also understand how eager these people were to taste the fresh, newly arrived tea. And in order to succeed in making the tea, special attention was given to water! 

Page 297-298

"At the Hall of Complete Truth, the emperor gave us tea, personally holding the kettle and pouring it into the cups. The tea foamed up, and the foam got in the emperor's face. This made us, his subjects, uncomfortable and we said to him, "Your Majesty is neglecting the distinction between ruler and subject, and treating us subjects as equals, boiling tea for us. We are in trepidation. How dare we sip?" "

Comment: This account by Cai Jing, Huizong's chancellor of the State Council, confirms that Huizong is often preparing tea for guests, and that they find it awkward. They dare not laugh when a mistake happens. Actually, Cai Jing is probably exaggerating to flatter the emperor when he says that the foam was so high that it got in the emperor's face. Usually, foam isn't that thick. 

Page 299

"It's worth noting Huizong's personal preparation of tea for his guests at these parties. Tea clearly had a place in the culture of Huizong's court, as it did in literati culture of the time. Huizong had opinions of how tea should be prepared and liked to make it himself. Huizong has long been credited with a brief treatise on tea, dated to the Daguan period (1107-1110), the earliest version of which dates back to the Shuofu, compiled in the fourteenth century. After an introduction extolling the wonders of tea, the treatise covers twenty steps from selecting the site to plant the tea, through picking, steaming, grinding into cakes, making discriminating choices among types of tea, pouring water, selecting cups, and so on. 

Comment: Huizong was so fond of tea that he wrote a book about it. He's the only Chinese emperor to have written one. This book remains the reference to understand Song dynasty tea. It has many similarities with the Japanese Chado, but there are also differences, like using an ewer to pour the boiling water and whisking very thoroughly.

Page 299. A few passages from Huizong's book.

"How to judge quality: Teas vary as much in appearance as do the faces of men. If the consistency of caked tea is not done dense enough, the surface of the cake will be wrinkled and lack luster, whereas it should be both glossy and close-knit. Caked tea processed on the day it was picked has a light purple color ; if the processing has taken longer, it will be darker. When caked tea is powdered ready for infusion, the powder will look whitish but turn yellow when infused. There are also fine tea pastes with a greenish color; the powder, though grey, becomes white upon infusion. However, tea may look ordinary and nevertheless be remarkably good, so one should not go too much by appearances... Unfortunately tea merchants have many artifices for making tea look much better than it is."

Comment: The translation should read 'whisked' instead of 'infused'. In order to give you a better idea of how Huizong would prepare his tea, I have illustrated this post with pictures of a Song style tea preparation. It's also interesting to read that it's difficult to judge a tea by its appearance only. This is still very true nowadays. As a tea seller, I am delighted to read that marketing and packaging already existed in the Song dynasty! 

Page 300

"White tea: White tea is different from all others and deemed the finest. With wide-spreading branches and thin shiny leaves, the trees grow wild on forested cliffs. Their product is very sparse, however, and there is nothing one can do about it. Four or five families in the Beiyuan tea estate have some trees of this kind, but only a couple of them come into leaf, so no more than two or three bagfuls can be gathered each year. Both shoots and leaves are small; steaming and firing them is rather difficult; for if the temperature is not exactly right, they will taste like ordinary tea. Thus, a high order of skill is needed and the drying must be carefully done. If everything is exactly as it should be, the product of such trees will excel all others."

Comment: This paragraph is often misunderstood in the modern tea world. For many writers, this means that the white tea we know nowadays, which is simply dried, dates back to the Song dynasty. However, white tea is a process that is much more recent, about 100 years old. This paragraph shows that Huizong had a good understanding of what kind of natural environment the best teas come from. 

Page 300

"Cups: The best kind of tea bowls are very dark blue - almost black. They should be relatively deep so that the surface of the liquid will attain a milky color, and also rather wide to allow for whipping with a bamboo whisk."

Comment: the bowls Huizong has in mind are the black glazed bowls from Jianyang, Fujian Province. Their natural alterations during the firing in the long dragon kiln were a kind of natural beauty that the Song literati loved. And the dark color of the glaze let the light hue of the whisked tea stand out.

Page 300

"Whisk: This should be made of flexible bamboo; the handle should be heavy, the brush-like slivers light, their tips sharp as swords. Then when the whisk is used, there are not likely to be too many bubbles."

Comment: The focus of the book is to make a good bowl of tea. Even though Huizong is a Daoist who also had a Daoist cannon written, he's not mixing tea with spiritual powers or esoteric thoughts. It's a detailed and rational approach. The whisk is an important tool and its purpose is to create a thick foam, not large bubbles.

Page 328

"Huizong personally prepared tea and handed the cups to those present."

Comment: This new episode of Huizong preparing tea happened at chancellor Cai Jing's house. In the afterword, on page 505, the author writes: "Huizong made many small gestures to show his respect and appreciation for those around them (sic), from mixing up tea for them to inquiring about their relatives."