茶水知音

中國茶文化史上，文人常常就是茶人。他們品茗閱讀，著書寫茶。明末清初的散文家張岱就是其中之一。張岱（1597-1679），字宗子、石公，號陶庵，山陰(今浙江紹興)人，僑居杭州。他的散文取公安派、竟陵派諸家之長，風格以公安派的清新流暢為主調，在描寫刻畫上雜以竟陵派的冷峭詼諧之趣，短雋有味。除此之外，張岱在中國茶文化史上占有重要的一席，他不僅精于茶道，還以茶明志、借茶抒情，創作了為數甚多的茶散文作品。后世有人稱其為“茶散文家”，倒也是不為過的。

張岱出身仕宦之家，曾漫游蘇、浙、魯、皖等地區，常盤桓于滬、寧、杭一帶，游覽名山大川，了解各地風情習俗、物產土宜。他性情曠達，守大節而不拘泥小節，興趣愛好廣泛。在諸多癖好中，嗜茶為甚，喜品茶鑒水。

親制蘭雪

張岱的茶癖自幼習染，秉承家風，未至不惑之年，已是茶藝精湛，冠絕一時。張岱的家鄉山陰盛產日鑄茶，名望素著。“日鑄雪芽”在宋朝已被列為貢品，且為當時社會名流饋贈之珍品，為文人墨客所鐘愛，有“越州日鑄茶，為江南第一”之譽。張岱對故鄉的日鑄茶贊不絕口，他在《陶庵夢憶》中夸贊日鑄茶雋永獨特：“日鑄者，越王鑄劍地也。茶味棱棱，有金石之氣。”傳說春秋時期，越國鑄劍大師歐冶子至此，一日間鑄成歷史上著名的“越王劍”，故名日鑄。日鑄茶湯濃、味釅、爽口，這也許便是張岱所贊美的“棱棱有金石之氣”。然而到了明代，安徽休寧松蘿茶制法精妙，名噪一時，蓋過日鑄。

張岱為振興家鄉茶業，改良日鑄，創制新品種，招募徽州歙人專事松蘿茶的師傅入日鑄山授業。他在散文《蘭雪茶》中自述：“遂募歙人入日鑄。拘法、掐法、挪法、撒法、扇法、炒法、焙法、藏法，一如松蘿。”進而他又探究泉水，發現“他泉瀹之，香氣不出，煮禊泉，投以小罐，則香太濃郁，雜入茉莉，再三較量，用敞口瓷甌淡放之。候其冷，以旋滾湯沖瀉之，色如竹籜方解，綠粉初勻，又如山窗初曙，透紙黎光。取清妃白，傾向素瓷，真如百莖素蘭同雪濤并瀉也。雪芽得其色矣，未得其氣。”張岱將新品種戲呼之曰“蘭雪”，品賞把玩，自得其樂。他的這一發明后逐漸流行開來，如此四五年后，蘭雪茶風靡茶市，紹興之飲茶者一改往日飲松蘿的習慣，反倒非蘭雪不飲。此風播及徽州，原來徽人惟松蘿茶者也改飲蘭雪，“不食松蘿，只食蘭雪”，“松蘿貶身價俯就蘭雪”。后來，連松蘿茶亦改名“蘭雪”了，可惜今已失傳。

以茶會友

在張岱的許多著作中，記述了不少生動的茶事。例如《閔老子茶》，詳盡記錄了張岱與精于茶道的著名老茶人閔汶水的品茶辨泉的經過，極為生動，富有茶趣。明崇禎十一年(1638)九月的一天，張岱專程前往桃葉渡拜訪閔老子。張岱想親口品嘗這位高手煎的茶，可偏巧閔汶水大清早便外出，張岱等到午后，閔老子才回家。誰知閩老子進屋后只是簡單和張岱寒暄幾句，便又借故徑自出門去了。張岱已經等了老半天，好不容易等到他回來，卻又走了，但是為了能品嘗到這位高手煎的茶，只好耐著性子繼續等下去。直到夜深時分，閔老子方慢悠悠地返回。一進門，看了張岱一眼，頗為奇怪地問：“客人你還在啊？你在這里干什么呢？”張岱恭敬地回答：“慕汶老久，今日不暢飲汶老茶，決不回去。”汶水有感于張岱的一番誠意，遂大喜，“自起當爐”，把煎茶絕技展示出來，并帶張岱至內室，展示其收藏的茶具，“荊溪壺（宜興紫砂壺）、成宣窯瓷甌十余種，皆精絕”。閔汶水瀹茶后，有心考考張岱，故意不說出茶與泉的真名。張岱精于茶藝，嘗遍天下名茶，現在親眼見到如此精絕茶湯，啜了一口，便問閔汶水：“此茶產于何地？”閔老子隨便回答：“四川閬中產的閬苑茶。”張岱在燈光下見茶湯之色與瓷甌之色無別，而茶香溢人，但是他對閔汶水的說法表示懷疑，又品了一口，說：“汶老別哄我，這茶是閬苑的制法，但滋味卻不像！”閔汶水微微一笑，說：“那么你說，是什么茶？”張岱再品之，說：“極似羅芥茶。”閔汶水驚曰：“奇、奇。”張岱又問水是何水。閔汶水說：“惠泉。”張岱又說：“別哄我，惠泉在千里之外，何能鮮爽不損？”汶水對張岱的精鑒連連稱奇，抽身而去，不一會兒，又持一壺滿斟，遞給張岱。張岱品鑒道：“此茶香烈味酵，乃春茶也，剛才喝的是秋茶。”閔老子聽罷開懷大笑，方識眼前這位茶客是品茗鑒水的行家，乃茶中知己，他不得不承認：“予年七十，精賞鑒者，無客比。”兩人遂結成忘年交。

張岱不僅在散文《閔老子茶》中追記真人真事，還在論茶時發出無限慨嘆：“金陵閔老子死后，茶之一道絕矣!”這不能不說是中國茶史上的一段佳話。

尋泉訪水

龍井茶、虎跑水被譽為“雙絕”。我國古代茶藝就是茶與水的藝術配對和組合，佳茗配佳泉，凡提品茗，總是把茶和水聯在一塊的。茶的色、香、味、形便是通過水的沖泡溶解，以眼觀、鼻聞、口嘗的方式提供茶人以享受的。善品茶者，必善品水。歷代文人品泉擇水都以惠山泉為上，明代文人尤其如此。張岱是鑒水行家，在散文《閔老子茶》中就有寫到他與閔老子論泉的事。閔老子向張岱傳授了保持泉水鮮爽之法：“在汲水前先淘凈泉井，待子時后新泉涌現時才汲取，并用山石鋪墊甕底。運水之舟非江風滿帆則不行船，所以才保持了水的鮮活。”張岱得知此法后，為了得到惠山泉，還組織過一個專門運送惠泉水的物流機構，按上述方法定時運輸，收取水費。由于惠泉珍貴，加上運程遠，供不應求。

為解決品茗用水，張岱經常尋泉訪水。此事他在散文《禊泉》中有所記述：明萬歷四十二年(1614)，他途經斑竹庵，取庵邊泉水品嘗，其水質磷磷有圭角，清冽甘美，他大感驚異，于是他坐在泉井邊觀看水色，但見水色有如“秋月霜空，噗天為白”，又如“輕嵐出岫，繚松迷石，淡淡欲散”。隨后，他忽然發現布滿苔蘚的泉水口有字劃，便用帚刷洗，只見露出“禊泉”二字，書法甚似王右軍，這使他更加驚異。于是，他住進斑竹庵，汲取泉水，烹煮瀹茶，水注入后，茶香溢出。但他發覺剛汲的泉水有股石腥味，待放置三日后，石腥味才盡散。這篇散文繪聲繪色地表現了他善于辨水的高超本領。本來品水如參禪，全憑悟性，只可意會，不可言傳，可張岱能用精微的文字表述出來，真是舉重若輕，游刃有余。禊泉澄澈清冷，水質甘洌，相傳為晉代大書法家王羲之于永和九年(353)三月初三與當時名士謝安等會集紹興蘭亭修禊宴飲之泉。張岱對禊泉大加推崇，認為杭州虎跑水、會稽陶溪水、蕭山北干水均不能與禊泉為伍。禊泉與惠泉也不相上下，惠泉水經過長途運輸會變質，禊泉水隨汲隨飲，其鮮活自然勝惠泉一籌。從此禊泉受到茶人重視，民眾紛紛前往汲取，甚至有人以此牟利，裝甕出售。消息傳到紹興太守董方伯耳中，他差人取水品飲，果然甘美無比。猶恐泉水供應不足，他便下令封泉，未經許可，不準汲取。這樣禊泉反而聲名大振。

張岱辨水品泉之精，達到出神入化的地步，其辨水本領不亞于唐之陸羽、李德裕，宋之王安石、蘇軾。當年張岱經營運輸惠山泉水業務時，他的手下人為了省力，未到惠山，在半路上隨便汲水運回。張岱一品味，發現不對，但是當差的百般抵賴。于是張岱召集運水的差人，當場品泉辨水，說出這是某地某泉的水，眾人大為驚詫，便將實話說了出來。張岱不愧是辨水的高手行家，自稱“水淫茶癖”，名不虛傳。□

Zhang Dai: ea and Water Gourmet

By Liu Lufeng

In the history of Chinese tea， the most prominent figures are scholars. In ancient times， scholars enjoyed tea and wrote books on various aspects of the healthy beverage. Lu Yu (733-804) wrote The Book of Tea， the world’s very first encyclopedic book on tea. Zhang Dai (1597-1679)， a preeminent essayist of the late Ming (1368-1644) and early Qing (1644-1911) dynasties， was one of these scholarly tea gourmets.

Zhang Dai， a native of Shaoxing in eastern Zhejiang Province， was celebrated for his fresh and concise prose style and witty humor. He is also known for a significant role he played in the history of tea. He was well versed in tea and he wrote quite a few essays on tea. For this reason， he is known as a tea essayist.

Boy and man， Zhang liked tea and became a knowledgeable tea scholar and gourmet. His extensive travel across Jiangsu， Zhejiang， Shandong and Anhui， all tea-production provinces in eastern China， gave him wide experience and knowledge in tea and water. Now it happens that Zhang’s hometown Shaoxing once produced a famous tea called Rizhu Tea. In the Song Dynasty (960-1279) the tea was a tribute to the royal house and a good gift among social celebrities. It was loved by literati. By the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)， the brand had deteriorated and Songluo Tea made in the neighboring Anhui Province had become better known on the market. In order to revive the local production， Zhang Dai employed masters of Songluo Tea from Anhui. In Zhang’s employment， the masters used the same process to produce Rizhu Tea. With the tea quality solved， Zhang turned his eyes to the way of steeping tea. After numerous experiments， he invented a sophisticated way to make tea with spring water. The formula made a good cup of tea. In a few years， his formula became very popular. Zhang named it Snow Orchid. Tea drinkers in Shaoxing all gave up Songluo Tea and got converted to Snow Orchid. Even tea drinkers in Anhui became addicted to Snow Orchid.

Zhang Dai wrote “Master Min’s Tea” to record his visit to an experienced tea master surnamed Min. In September 1638， Zhang Dai went to visit the master. But the master had left in the early morning. Zhang waited for his return patiently. The master came back in the afternoon. But after a brief greeting， the master left again. Zhang had to wait. It was not until late at night that the master came back. The master became extremely curious why the guest was still there. Zhang replied reverently that he wanted to have a cup of tea made by the master and that he would not leave until he had the drink. Master Min was overjoyed to meet such a tea fanatic. So he started a fire and began to prepare tea. While tea was in the making， the master showed Zhang his collection of precious tea sets. Then the master served Zhang Dai a cup of tea. Zhang tasted it and asked what tea it was. Now the old man wanted to test Zhang’s knowledge of tea and water. He deliberately gave Zhang wrong information. But Zhang got all the answers right. The master went into another room and came back with a new cup of tea. Zhang found the second cup was a tea produced in the autumn and the first cup was made from tea leaves picked in the spring. The master was amazed by Zhang’s profound knowledge of tea and water. They became good friends.

Zhang Dai was a highly experienced water-taster. In his narrative “Master Min’s Tea”， Zhang Dai records a discussion on keeping spring water fresh. The method was very thorough: you remove all the water from a spring first. Then you wait until new water oozes into the spring. You get the fresh water into urns paved with mountain stones on the bottoms. This is a way to keep water fresh on a long journey. Zhang Dai later used this method. He organized a transportation service to get fresh water all the way from Huishan Spring in Wuxi， Jiangsu Province to Shaoxing， his hometown. Though the water was expensive， it sold well.

Zhang was constantly in search of spring water good enough to make tea up to his standard. His narrative essay “Xi Spring” gives an account of a successful search. In 1914 he took a break at a spring near Banzhu Nunnery in Shaoxing. He sampled the spring water and found it pleasant sweet and give him a very great mouth feel. So he decided to take a closer look at the color of the water. He found it amazingly crystal. Then he spotted some strokes of characters near the spring source on the rock. So he swept the rock and saw two characters Xi Spring carved on the rock. What was more amazing was the style of the calligraphy. He believed it was in the style of Wang Xizhi (303-361)， the founding father of calligraphy who turned functional writing into an art. After all， Wang lived in Shaoxing for years. Zhang hastily went to the nunnery and fetched the spring water. He used the water to make tea， but it had a taste of rock. Zhang let the water cool down for three days and tried again. This time， the rock taste was gone and the tea was great. With the recommendation of Zhang Dai， the spring became well known in Shaoxing. People came in to the spring to fetch water. Some transported and marketed water and made a profit. The magistrate of Shaoxing ordered to have the spring guarded.

Zhang was so experienced in water tasting that it was as if he had a databank in his mind on all the spring waters he had ever tasted. While running a water business which fetched water from Huishan Spring and shipped it to Shaoxing， Zhang inspected every delivery. After finding one delivery tasted odd， he summoned the shipping master and asked for an explanation. The shipping master said there was no mistake. Then Zhang called all the shippers together and said the water was from a certain spring in a certain place. Everybody was astonished by Zhang’s knowledge. The truth came out. The shipping master hated going all the way to the Huishan Spring. He stopped far away from the destination and drew water from a spring and came back. □