Tuo Zhi Wei—the taste of Tuocha

Fine trees grow in the South, and Tuocha is produced in Xiaguan. Since the creation of Tuocha in 1902, more than a century has passed. Life passes quickly like a white pony’s shadow flashing past a crevice and usually cannot last longer than a hundred years. However, the true essence of life has already been stored away in Tuocha.

And the essence of Tuocha lies in its storing and reserving of the soul and purity of tea. Just like a gentleman’s quality not being limited to one ability, Tuocha is a combination of great craft and excellent quality. Just like a free and unfettered way of life, Tuocha is naturally produced bearing the spirit of freedom of nature. Therefore, although more than a century has passed, the scent of Tuocha has never faded.

Today, I am very honored to share with you, my esteemed guests and friends, a few cups of tea and talks of the world.

Tuo Zhi Wei: Three Types of Taste of Purification

Stop all the distracting thoughts to gain a calm state of mind. With devoted mind and pure tea, concentrated tea soup is made with attentiveness.

Hand Cleaning:
Wash away dirt with clean water; and make tea with delicate hands. Only clean hands may guarantee the purity of the taste of tea.

Sitting down:

Restrain the body from moving, and filled the mind with adoration. 

Greetings to all of you, my esteemed guests. Please take your seat, my dear friends.

Sitting in tranquility:

in tranquility we fell purification and in purification we find truth.

Only by integrating tranquility with truth in harmony, we can appreciate the charm and delicacy of tea and enjoy ourselves in a tranquil state of mind.

Tuo Zhi Wei: Awakening

Universal essences are concentrated in a teapot while a life path is concentrated in a teacup. 

Everything in the world will show itself while a pair of clean hands turning the teacup.

With the turning of the teacup from the introverted outside, the moment of awakening comes. A moment of awakening is the purification of mind and a full understanding of the truth of tea. Tuocha is one of the best Pu’er and is best brewed in dark-red enameled pottery teapots. A dark-red enameled pottery teapot crafted in Yixing is the best choice since it gathers the fragrance of tea without weakening its flavor at all, and is therefore able to deliver the authentic fragrance and flavor of tea. Tea infuses the water, and the teapot enriches the infusion. The teapot contains the tea fusion, and the tea fusion also nourishes the teapot.

Tuo Zhi Wei: Water Observation

Watching the water with joy, and gaining wisdom in the observation.

Tea is a spiritual product of nature, and therefore tea sets shall be supremely purified. Pre-heat the teacups to help delivering the quality of tea. Pour in water from above the teapot in a circle movement and fill the teapot to its 2/3. Drip wash the dark-red enameled pottery teapot, Gongdao (sharing) cup and teacups in order in an introverted circle movement.

As the great poet, Su Dongpo, said, just a few amount of water encourages me to keep the purification inside my mind, but who would expect a thought of standing aloof from worldly affairs would arise in obtaining water? Half of my lifetime has passed and I have never given up my lifetime aspiration, that is the appreciation of the great natural scenery and wonderful melody of the mountain springs. The highest level of ethics is like water, which is beneficial for all things, without striving for fame and gain. Best quality tea leaves make best quality tea infusion, and therefore the water is crucial because only by using the purist water the best quality of tea may be delivered. The water we use to brew tea shall have a quality of purity, a nature of soft, a character of flowing, and a taste of sweet. By this standard, mountain water is of the highest grade, river water is moderate, and well water is of the lowest grade.

The water we use to brew Xiaguan Tuocha is originally obtained from Cangshan Mountain. It is natural water from melted snow and is therefore pure, cold, clear and sweet. It is better to quickly boil the water with blaze but not slowly with soft fire.

When it first starts boiling, rolling bubbles look like crab and fish eyes. We can feel a sense of youthfulness in the water and so people call it Nen Tang (tender boiling water). Then the water continues boiling to the mid-level, and the rolling bubbles look like pouring spring. At this time, we can sense the vigor of the meridian of life and so people call it Zhong Tang (moderate boiling water). When the boiling reaches the third level, the water billows, give an impression of a firm old man, and so people call it Lao Tang (tough boiling water). If the water continues boiling afterwards, it would be like a man reaches a hundred years old and would not be suitable for brew tea any more.

Tuo Zhi Wei: Enlightenment Through Inspiration

This is the moment when tea leaves are brewed in the boiling water, which is a like an enlightenment through mutual inspiration of water and tea.

A Subtle Appreciation of Tuocha

Understand the characteristics of the tea.

First, observe the shape of the tea: the appearance of the tea is tight and round, which helps to reserve the fragrance.

Second, observe the color the tea: raw tea is in dark green and looks groomed and embellished, and ripe tea is in dark reddish-brown and looks sleek, which helps restoring the flavor.
Third, observe the quality the tea: the tea has a feature of strong and thick strips with clear bud points and looks plump.

Placing Tea Leaves in Teapot

Hold the tea holder with one hand and the tea scoop with other hand, and then slowly push the tea leaves into the teapot in three times. Quantity of tea leaves and way of brewing shall be chosen according to the characteristics of the tea.

Tuo Zhi Wei: Spiritual Cultivation

Enlightenment of Life

Slowly drip wash tea leaves with boiling water in a circle along the wall of the teapot. This will moisten the tea leaves as well as add heat to the teapot from outside. The nature of the tea will be awakened in the heat of the water and teapot. As soon as the fragrance of tea starts to release, we can stop washing tea leaves and move to the next step. The infusion from washing tea leaves is not supposed to drink and shall be pour into Gongdao cup to wash the filter.

Meditation for Spiritual Realization

Pour water into the teapot from high above like springs running around the quiet mountain. To awaken and promote the nature of tea, avoid pouring water directly on tea leaves. Rise and lower the pot containing boiling water in rhythm so that tea leaves would go up and down with the wave and fully soak in the water.

Remove Waste and Keep Essentials

Hold and use the lid of the teapot to get rid of the floating froth from pouring in of water and keep the essentials of the tea to get bright and clear infusion.

Raise the containing boiling water high above and pouring water to flush away floating foam and add heat to the teapot for the fourth time to allow full release of the quality of tea.

Tea Spirit Rising from Tuocha
With a history of more than one hundred years, the choosing of raw material, formula and craft of Tuocha has been continuously improved. By using tea leaves carefully picked in the green mountains covering in clouds and mist and surrounding by clean springs in the hometown of tea, Tuocha absorbs the spirit of nature. It is the incarnation of tea genius coming to earth.

Tuo Zhi Wei: Experience of Tea Charm

With our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind,

we drink its infusion, experience its charm, smell its fragrance, taste its flavor, understand its warmth and gained its wisdom of essence. After all this, we finally know the taste of Tuocha.

Tuo Zhi Wei: Harmony

The brewing of tea leaves in water for a good cup of tea infusion is the generosity of tea. For the fragrance contained in tea we abstain all the earthly fouls, and that proves our determination of no turning aside. Having gone through steaming, parching, fermenting, compressing and rolling, the tea demonstrates the spirit of enduring. Through meditation and enlighten, we banish indolence, and that is our eager to get improvement and progress. By integrating tranquility with truth in harmony, we also achieved harmony between us and the tea, and that is the essence of persistence. Through tea drinking, we gained wisdom and harmony, that is what we called Tuo Zhi Wei, the taste of Tuocha.