A local story about Lu Yu’s search for tea brings him through Yiyang in 754, the thirteenth year of Tianbao. It tells that he stopped at Ziyang Cave on Qimen Mountain in Gushi when hunger and thirst overtook him.
From the journal
Tea Hills and a Cup of Xinyang Maojian
Follow Xinyang Maojian from the named tea hills above Nanwan Lake to the gestures of preparing a cup.
In the same city · Xinyang ↗
A Local Story of Lu Yu and Tea
Five Clouds, Two Pools, One Village
Above Nanwan Lake, Xinyang’s tea hills are gathered in the names Five Clouds, Two Pools and One Village: Cheyun, Jiyun, Yunwu, Tianyun and Lianyun; Heilongtan and Bailongtan; and Hejiazhai.
Eighty Degrees, Three Lifts
The brewing is written down as a sequence of ten steps, and the instructions are physical. A tea artist lifts leaves from the caddy with a cha ze and spreads them on a tasting tray so that guests can look at the shape before water touches them. The water should come from Longtan's mountain springs, described as clear, sweet, clean and living, and it should be about 80 degrees Celsius, because tender tea is infused rather than boiled. Pouring is done in three lifts, up and down, called the phoenix nodding three times, and the foam is skimmed with the lid in a movement named spring wind brushing the face. The cup is held with three fingers, the three dragons guarding the tripod, and the tea is drunk in three sips.