“Burning incense, preparing tea, hanging paintings, arranging flowers—
these four leisurely pursuits should not burden one's home.”
—Wu Zimu, Dream of the Liang Dynasty
Readers who have watched the TV series Dreamy Song Dynasty will surely remember the scene where the main character Zhao Pan'er prepares tea with skillful and graceful movements, a sight that is pleasing to the eye.
Tea became popular in the Tang Dynasty but flourished in the Song Dynasty. The custom of Drinking Tea was widespread in Song society, enjoyed by everyone from nobles and literati to merchants, gentry, and common folk, all of whom found pleasure in it, leading to the emergence of various tea-related activities.
The method of drinking tea in the Song Dynasty differed from today's practice of Steeping tea leaves in boiling water. In the Song Dynasty, tea was made from compressed cakes, which were ground into a fine powder before being mixed with boiling water. This process, known as “crushing the tea into powder, pouring hot water over it, and using a whisk to froth it,” is referred to as “pointing tea.”
Song Dynasty people poured their hearts, filled with mountains and rivers, into their paintings and also into their tea. With a touch of green and a wisp of breeze, they tapped into the vitality of life. Pointing tea is considered the most beautiful taste in the history of tea, beautiful in its form—the foam resembling faint stars and a pale moon, beautiful in its artistry—the techniques and rituals measured and refined, beautiful in its flavor—mild yet not bland, and even more beautiful in the wisdom of the Song people in understanding and utilizing tea, reaching the shores of elegant living.
The Technique and Art of Pointing Tea in the Song Dynasty
By Wang Li
China has a long history of drinking tea. The pointing method of the Song Dynasty represents the pinnacle of tea-drinking techniques and is a critical transition point between spiced tea and plain tea. It occupies an important position in the development of drinking methods. Among these, duocha (tea competitions) evolved from the pointing method, driving the growth of the tea industry. Fencha (dividing tea), which had existed earlier, such as the “pouring into bowls” mentioned in the Classic of Tea, took on a playful and artistic nature during the Song Dynasty, imbued with a sense of liveliness and beauty.
The culture of pointing tea is an essential component of the Tea culture of the Song Dynasty and one of the significant elements of Chinese civilization. Based on the pointing method, other activities like duocha and fencha developed, greatly enriching the fun and aesthetic qualities of pointing tea. The pointing method, which was extremely popular at the time, spread to countries like Japan, promoting the birth and development of Japanese tea ceremony, influencing their spiritual lives and value systems, and shining brightly in foreign lands, leaving a brilliant chapter in the annals of Chinese culture.
In the Song Dynasty, the common methods of drinking tea were boiling tea and pointing tea. Due to the unique nature of the traveling lives of the scholar-official class, many people used multiple methods based on their daily customs. For example, Su Shi would sometimes say, “ginger and salt mixed with white soil, slightly following my Sichuan style,” and at other times he would scold, “my wife and young children do not appreciate it; half of it has already been boiled with ginger and salt.” He believed that good tea should be prepared using the pointing method, as adding ginger and salt would spoil the quality of the tea.
The Historical Background of the Popularity of the Pointing Method
Due to the rise of duocha among the people of Jianzhou, tea from Jianzhou became a tribute tea for the imperial family, and pointing tea became a favored pastime among officials and literati. Cai Xiang and Emperor Huizong were influential figures in the development of tea culture in the Song Dynasty, inheriting and developing the art of pointing tea with a spirit of inclusiveness. Their works, the Tea Record and the Great View on Tea, are valuable sources for studying the culture of pointing tea in the Song Dynasty. The popularity of the pointing method cannot be separated from the social-economic conditions, political and cultural developments, and changes in aesthetic consciousness at the time.
With the rapid growth of labor force, advances in production tools, and improvements in production technology, agriculture in the Song Dynasty saw significant development, meeting the food needs of tea farmers and providing favorable economic conditions for the cultivation and production of tea. The development of the tea industry was closely related to the shift of the economic center to the south, coupled with the natural advantages of southern tea-growing regions, where the area under tea cultivation expanded two to threefold. At the same time, the population grew rapidly, providing a sufficient labor force for tea production. The quantity and quality of tea increased significantly, becoming a highly developed commodity, further promoting the development of tea trade. The development of the tea industry also spurred progress in the ceramics industry, with the five famous kilns of the Northern Song Dynasty and Jingdezhen porcelain enjoying national renown, making high-quality tea sets possible. The prosperity of commerce not only promoted the production of tea but also further stimulated and propelled the development of pointing tea culture, expanding it to various regions and levels.
During the Song Dynasty, tea had become a necessity in people's daily lives. All classes of people were fond of drinking tea, from nobles to commoners. Tea was closely intertwined with the lives of Song people, becoming one of the seven essentials for daily living: firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea. The prosperity of the Song economy and the rise of urban culture promoted the development of tea houses and the emergence of tea house culture. Tea houses provided convenient venues for leisure and entertainment, especially for the scholar-official class. During the Song Dynasty, when literature was valued over military prowess, scholars held a high social status. They wrote poetry and painted while drinking tea, emphasizing the art of tea appreciation. Poetry and other literary works contributed to the popularity of the pointing method, elevating tea drinking from daily consumption to a cultural level, forming tea philosophy, and creating a splendid tea culture.
Historian Deng Guangming pointed out: “The culture of the Song Dynasty reached an unparalleled height within the historical period of China's feudal society, up until the influx of Western learning in the late Ming and early Qing periods.” Compared to the Tang Dynasty, the production techniques of tea in the Song Dynasty were more sophisticated, the quality of tea finer, and the drinking techniques more mature. The dragon and phoenix-shaped Compressed tea cakes produced in Beiyuan were meticulously crafted, surpassing previous renowned teas. New varieties emerged each year, totaling dozens of different types. The Song people used a large number of natural images in naming compressed tea cakes, such as “jade,” “snow,” “cloud,” and “spring,” adding much charm to the aesthetic experience of pointing tea. In terms of drinking methods, the Song people placed greater emphasis on the color, aroma, and flavor of the tea itself, changing from the Tang practice of adding Seasoning substances when boiling tea to plain drinking. They also simplified the utensils used, eliminating the pot (fou) used for boiling tea and instead placing the powdered tea in a tea bowl (zhan) and pouring hot water over it. Aesthetically, unlike the Tang practice of boiling tea, the Song people pursued the thickness, durability, and shape of the tea foam, deepening and refining their pursuit of beauty. If the boiling method of the Tang Dynasty focused on technique, the pointing method of the Song Dynasty emphasized the artistic conception.
The Basic Procedures of Pointing Tea
The pointing method is an innovation based on the boiling method of the Tang Dynasty, with more technical sophistication and a greater focus on aesthetic experience. The boiling method of the Tang Dynasty involved crushing tea cakes directly into a pot (fou) for cooking, while the pointing method required grinding the tea even finer, to the consistency of powder, without adding salt or other seasonings, preserving the true flavor of the tea. The biggest difference is that the tea powder was no longer placed in a pot to cook but put into a tea bowl (zhan) and mixed with boiling water, while simultaneously using a tea whisk (known as “hit and stir” in ancient times) to blend the tea and water thoroughly, causing the tea powder to float, forming a creamy surface. Good tea broth has a layer of very fine white foam floating on the surface, called “milk gathering surface”; poorly pointed tea broth separates easily, called “cloud foot scattering.” Therefore,