徐藝珈

圖片發(fā)自簡書App

By the fourth and fifth centuries Tea became a favourite beverage among the inhabitants of the Yangtse-Kiang valley. It was about this time that modern ideograph Cha was coined, evidently a corruption of the classic Tou. The poets of the southern dynasties have left some fragments of their fervent adoration of the “froth of the liquid jade.” Then emperors used to bestow some rare preparation of the leaves on their high ministers as a reward for eminent services. Yet the method of drinking tea at this stage was primitive in the extreme. The leaves were steamed, crushed in a mortar, made into a cake, and boiled together with rice, ginger, salt, orange peel, spices, milk, and sometimes with onions! The custom obtains at the present day among the Thibetans and various Mongolian tribes, who make a curious syrup of these ingredients. The use of lemon slices by the Russians, who learned to take tea from the Chinese caravansaries, points to the survival of the ancient method.

?大概在四世紀到五世紀，茶成為最受揚子江流經(jīng)的山谷居民歡迎的飲品之一。也大概是在這個時期，現(xiàn)代語中的“茶”字被發(fā)明出來，而這個字明顯是對經(jīng)典版本的“荼”字的一種誤寫。在南朝，詩人們留下了許多飽含至誠愛意的文字來描述這“浮著白沫的流玉”。而皇帝則會將由珍稀茶葉配成的制劑賜給朝廷大臣以示恩寵。但在這個時期，人們飲茶的方式仍然是十分原始的，茶葉先是被蒸過，然后放在研缽中碾碎，把碎末制成茶團，最后把茶團投入水中，與米、姜、鹽、橙皮、香料和牛奶同煮，有的時候他們甚至?xí)谶@里面加入洋蔥！而這樣的運用方式至今仍存在于在西藏和一些蒙古部落里，他們常常會用這些原料制作一些稀奇古怪配方的草藥糖漿。俄國有在飲茶時使用檸檬片的習(xí)慣，而他們的飲茶習(xí)慣來源于路經(jīng)的中國商旅，這也是古老習(xí)俗殘留的證據(jù)之一。