第一章：茶之祖，源于楚

Chapter 1: The State of Chu, the Epicenter of Tea Culture

不羨黃金罍，不羨白玉杯；

不羨朝入省，不羨暮登臺(tái)；

千羨萬羨西江水，曾向競陵城下來。

——陸羽《六羨歌》

I envy not the golden ornamented urn of ale,

I envy not the emperor’s ruby and jade grail;

I envy not others’ glorious audience with the throne,

I envy not the dusk light’s ascension to the sacred stone;

But for he who drinks of the West River’s water pure and sweet,

But for he who brews a teapot from Jingling’s springs, my heart skippeth a beat.

—Lu Yu “The Song of Six Envies”

北緯30度。

這是一條穿越地球種種秘境說不清道不明的神奇緯線！

古埃及金字塔、巴比倫空中花園、百慕大死亡三角、雅魯藏布江大峽谷、喜馬拉雅山、遠(yuǎn)古瑪雅文明遺址……在這條線附近或在這一緯度線上，奇觀絕景比比皆是，自然迷團(tuán)頻頻發(fā)生。

神農(nóng)架，正位于這條線附近。在這里，有神秘的原始森林和美麗的傳說，以及許多令人不可思議的未解之謎。這里群峰巍巍，山壑縱橫，林木蔥翠，保存有完好的原生生物群落，被譽(yù)為“華中屋脊”、“綠色寶庫”。

Thirty degrees north latitude.

This is an other-worldly geographic parallel that cuts right through stretches of land that contains every manner of mind-boggling mysteries on earth.

The Ancient Egyptian Pyramids, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Bermuda Triangle, the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon, the Himalayas, the Ruins of the Ancient Mayan Civilization … the greatest mysteries in the vicinity of this parallel occur with such frequency as to be described as run-of-the-mill, and rarities here are so commonplace as to be regarded as a dime a dozen.

The Shennongjia Forestry District, located near this parallel, is home to mystical primeval forests and astounding legends, as well as many incredible unsolved mysteries. The towering peaks, the crisscrossing mountains and valleys and the lush greenery have been preserved completely intact as a vibrant and whole living community, known as the “China roof,” or the “green treasure.”

但很多人也許并不了解，神農(nóng)架在我國茶文化中的重要地位。

湖北是“茶祖”神農(nóng)的故鄉(xiāng)。相傳，神農(nóng)架是炎帝神農(nóng)嘗百草的地方，且茶又是神農(nóng)嘗百草過程中所發(fā)現(xiàn)。

關(guān)于神農(nóng)發(fā)現(xiàn)茶的過程，有多個(gè)版本，傳播比較廣泛的是，神農(nóng)嘗百草中毒暈倒在茶樹下，恰好有水從茶樹葉子上滴下，流入神農(nóng)口中，神農(nóng)飲后起死回生；還有一種說法是神農(nóng)煮水，有茶樹葉子飄落鍋中，神農(nóng)飲后，這種味苦回甘的葉子可提人精氣神，從而發(fā)現(xiàn)了茶葉的藥用功能。

《神農(nóng)本草》載：“神農(nóng)嘗百草，日遇七十二毒，得茶解之?！?神農(nóng)，便是茶之始祖。

有關(guān)神農(nóng)的傳說，顯示了飲茶起源的線索，也可以佐證湖北神農(nóng)架作為茶葉產(chǎn)地的悠久歷史和深厚文化底蘊(yùn)。而在神農(nóng)架原始深林中，至今還有野生茶樹生長。

自古高山云霧出好茶。高海拔山區(qū)云霧彌漫，茶樹接受日光輻射和光線的質(zhì)量與平地不同。空氣、溫度、光照、土壤等方面深刻影響著茶樹的生長和茶葉的品質(zhì)。

Yet what still remains unknown to many is, that Shennongjia holds a lofty seat in the hierarchy of the tea culture of China.

Hubei Province is the hometown of Shen Nong, the “God of Agriculture.” According to legendary tales, Shennongjia is the place where Shen Nong sampled hundreds of medicinal plants, and tea is what Shen Nong discovered through the process of actually tasting the herbs.

There are many versions of how Shen Nong made his tea discovery, but the most popular one is: while sampling different herbal decoctions, Shen Nong ingested a toxic batch and fainted under a tea plant. Just then, droplets of dew hanging from the tea leaves like sparkling jewels began to drip into Shen Nong’s mouth, which was slightly agape; and as he drank it, he was revived. There is another version that claims, as Shen Nong was boiling water, some tea leaves were fluttering in the air around his pot, which eventually settled into the pot itself. After drinking it, Shen Nong noticed that this bitter leaf with the smooth aftertaste had invigorating and energizing properties, thus he discovered the medicinal features of tea.

The anecdote is recorded in The Classic of Herbal Medicine, which tells of a time when “Shen Nong took a herbal decoction made up of seventy-two toxins, but neutralized them with tea.” Thus, Shen Nong is considered the father of tea-making.

The legendary tale of Shen Nong actually provides clues about the origin of tea-making but also illustrates that Shennongjia enjoys a lengthy history and rich cultural heritage as the place of tea production. Even today, in the old-growth forests in Shennongjia, there is still a plethora of wild tea tree growth.

It’s been widely believed that high-altitude areas and misty mountaintops produce the best tea leaves. At these high-altitude areas in the cloud-shrouded mountains, the quality of the sunlight that radiates on the tea trees is wholly different from that of lower elevations. The air, temperature, light, soil and other factors all have a profound effect on the growth and quality of tea.

神農(nóng)架林區(qū)自然資源富集，且有著獨(dú)特的氣候條件和生態(tài)環(huán)境，負(fù)氧離子濃度達(dá)16萬每立方厘米。漫射光多，云霧繚繞，晝夜溫差大，有利于茶樹自身營養(yǎng)物的體內(nèi)循環(huán)，茶樹中茶多酚、氨基酸、果膠質(zhì)等營養(yǎng)物質(zhì)得以積累和貯存。此外，山區(qū)茶樹根系發(fā)達(dá)，有效物質(zhì)沉淀到葉面，使得這里產(chǎn)出的茶葉清香怡人，滋味醇厚，品質(zhì)上乘。

Shennongjia Forestry District is rich in natural resources, and has singular climatic conditions and ecological environment with a negative oxygen concentration of 16 million ions per cubic centimeter. The large proliferation of diffused light, the great billows of swirling mist, the mean temperature gap between day and night are all conducive to the absorption of nutrient cycles within the tea plants, as the polyphenols, amino acids, pectin and other minerals are accumulated and stored within the tea plant. In addition, the developed network of mountain tea roots effectively deposits the nutrients into the leaves, making the final tea product in this area richly aromatic and pleasing, with a mellow taste and a superior quality.

茶圣陸羽一生嗜茶，精于茶道，以著世界第一部茶葉專著《茶經(jīng)》聞名于世，并開啟了一個(gè)茶的時(shí)代。

湖北同樣也是“茶圣”陸羽的故鄉(xiāng)。據(jù)傳，唐開元二十一年（公元733年）秋天的一個(gè)早晨，湖北天門龍蓋寺智積禪師漫步西湖，忽聞小橋旁的蘆葦叢中“群雁喧集”，隱約伴有嬰兒的啼哭聲。循聲走去，只見大雁“以翼覆一嬰兒”。禪師慈悲為懷，將嬰兒抱回寺中撫養(yǎng)。此地后被視為陸羽的出生地，小橋稱作雁橋。

Lu Yu, the Tea Sage, was fond of tea for his whole life. He was quite adept at the art of tea ceremony and wrote the world’s first treatise on tea, The Classic of Tea, for which his fame spread throughout the world and he himself became the founding father of the tea epoch.

Hubei is also the hometown of “the Tea Sage.”According to legend, one morning in the autumn of the twenty-first year of the Tang Dynasty, (AD 733), Zhi Ji, a Zen Master of the Tianmen Longgai Temple was out strolling around West Lake, when a “cacophony of wild goose honks” emanated abruptly from the cluster of reeds next to the ramshackle bamboo bridge he was standing on, vaguely accompanied by what sounded like the cries of a cherubim babe. Following the sound of his footsteps, he spied a “baby wrapped in goose wings.”Compassion filled the Zen master’s bosom, and he carried the baby back to the temple in his arms. Afterwards, this was considered to be the birthplace of Lu Yu, and the small bridge was christened the“Goose Bridge.”

按照陸羽的自傳描述，他相貌丑陋并且有些口吃，但這都阻擋不了他的向茶之心。為了撰寫《茶經(jīng)》，陸羽幾乎走遍了當(dāng)時(shí)的主要產(chǎn)茶區(qū)。他不但精于品茶，還非常重視水在品茶中的作用?，F(xiàn)在各地都有他曾經(jīng)品評(píng)過的煮茶名泉。

在《全唐詩》中，收錄了陸羽的一首《六羨歌》：

不羨黃金罍，不羨白玉杯；

不羨朝入省，不羨暮登臺(tái)；

千羨萬羨西江水，曾向競陵城下來。

陸羽之所以能被尊為茶圣，大概是因?yàn)樗兄虿瓒男?，和如茶一般淡泊曠達(dá)的品格。

According to Lu Yu’s autobiography, he was an unsightly sort who was given to stammering and stuttering but neither condition could hold back his passion for tea. To write The Classic of Tea, Lu Yu toured through nearly every important tea production area of the time. He was not only a skilled tea maker but also attached great importance to the role of water in the tea-making process. Nowadays, tea lovers can find, nearly everywhere in China, renowned springs Lu Yu had tasted and evaluated for tea making.

Lu Yu’s “The Song of Six Envies” was included in the Complete Tang Poems collection.

I envy not the golden ornamented urn of ale,

I envy not the emperor’s ruby and jade grail;

I envy not others’ glorious audience with the throne,

I envy not the dusk light’s ascension to the sacred stone;

But for he who drinks of the West River’s water pure and sweet,

But for he who brews a teapot from Jingling’s springs, my heart skippeth a beat.

Lu Yu was most likely revered as the Tea Sage because he was a natural born tea connoisseur and a big man of broad-minded character who cared little about fame and wealth. In fact, many parallels could be drawn between his character and the essence of tea itself.