鄧時海杭州品普洱

8月初，聽說臺灣的鄧時海先生來杭州了，而且要與杭州的茶友分享他的好茶，心里變得坐立不安起來。鄧先生可是當今的普洱茶權威啊，他在寶島和大陸的茶界聲譽卓著。

鄧時海先生祖籍廣西，出生于馬來西亞，后以“僑生”身份考入臺灣師大，畢業后一直留校任教授至今。從上世紀80年代起，鄧教授開始系統研究普洱茶，十幾年間奔波于臺灣、香港和大陸，出版了專著《普洱茶》，幾年后云南科技出版社購買此書版權在大陸出版，被茶人視為必讀之書。 鄧先生除了對普洱茶有深入的研究，更是楊式太極武藝第六代傳人，他在各大專院校教拳30余年，對先生來說，太極拳與普洱茶都是他生命中的最愛。

據鄧時海所著《普洱茶》一書載，“普茶”一名首次見諸文字在明代，據萬歷謝肇《滇略》記載：“士遮所用，皆普茶也。蒸而成團。”；《云南志》載：“普洱山在車里宣慰司北。其上產茶，性溫味香，名普洱茶。”明清時已成為貢茶，普洱茶進入清宮深受歡迎，“普洱茶名遍天下。味最釅，京師大重之”，傳說慈禧當時年高，最喜歡在冬季里剛吃完油膩便喝普洱茶，圖它又暖又能解油膩。《紅樓夢》“壽怡紅群芳開夜宴”一回中，賈寶玉“今兒吃了面怕停食，所以多頑一回子”，林之孝家的又向襲人等笑說：“該燜些普洱茶喝。”

我們與鄧時海先生相見在杭州西子湖畔的國際茶人村。晚上8點剛過鄧先生就來了，同來的還有臺灣的曹先生和經營普洱的張先生。鄧先生面目清瘦，精神矍爍，他沉靜、溫和、干練，一如陳年普洱。先生風趣地說，他今年63歲，但喝普洱卻已經有64年了。他解釋道這是因為當年交通不便，南洋一帶的華僑、華人喝不到中國的新鮮茶，所飲的大都是普洱老茶、陳茶，所以他在娘肚子里就開始喝普洱茶了。

那天晚上，大家先品的是一片中茶云南分公司的50年紅印七子餅。湯清自不必說，香味似乎夾雜著樟香棗香，而在入口的一瞬間還感覺有些許酸味，然到了口中卻再也找尋不見。先生說，這酸味和年份有直接的關系，再過幾年，這些許的酸味就會自然消逝，與此同時，現在所感覺到的隱隱的香味也會變得更為明朗起來，這都是自然轉換的結果。

我們終于要喝百年普洱了。先生拿出一個墨綠色的茶葉罐，從里面拿出一短柄緊茶（準確的說是大半個）放在盤子里讓大家觀賞：緊茶呈黃褐色，外層似乎覆蓋有一層白色的薄膜，有點像瓷器表面的包漿，一聞并無特別的香味，再聞感覺有淡淡的樟香隱隱約約地發散開來。先生說這是鼎興號末代緊茶，已有七八十年的歷史，因此可稱為百年普洱。2004年8月故園茶館曾拍賣過一塊類似的緊茶，成交價達75000元，而在1995年此茶的售價大約在200元左右。先生說，此茶的特點是山韻氣勢足，甘化樟香厚，陳味氣感強。

第一泡出來了。湯呈深栗色，清透明亮，湊近就可聞到一股濃濃的樟香，此氣厚重踏實，沉沉地沁入肺腑，讓人身心一下子變得沉靜起來；第一口喝到嘴里，濃濃的樟香居然溢滿了整個臉龐，鼻孔呼出的是樟香，舌尖觸到的是樟香，雙頰滿溢的還是樟香，而且這茶湯就像不需要吞咽一樣，它釅釅地滑了下去，于是體內就像被熨斗熨過似的變得服服帖帖，隨后，每一寸肌膚都舒展開來，似乎樟香滲透了每一個毛孔；喝第二口，剛開始似乎沒什么味道，但舌尖卻有些酥麻，柔滑的茶湯讓味蕾也跟著顫動起來；再喝第三口，太陽穴有些許發漲，而身體也開始微微發汗，通體舒暢。這時候最好的享受就是閉上眼睛任茶湯緩緩地滑下去，真是“唯覺兩腋習習清風生”……第二泡更為醇厚，茶湯入口水路綿厚柔順，樟香源源不斷地在口中在身體里彌漫開來，可謂至厚至柔。先生把這塊茶的品質歸納為16個字：無味之味，口齒留香，舌底鳴泉，陳韻仙靈。

鄧先生說，普洱茶的絕配是古琴，此次他來杭就是為了主持一個“普洱與古琴對話 ”的活動，讓茶友們在欣賞古琴悠長韻律的同時，品到各種不同品質的普洱茶，于是決定明天與普洱與古琴來一次深入的透徹的零距離牽手。

那天的古琴曲奏的是“高山流水”，由浙派琴箏傳人徐君躍演奏。徐先生出生于杭州古琴世家，祖籍浙江海門人，祖父為浙派著名琴家徐元白，其從小隨祖母黃雪輝，父親徐匡華習琴，后又師從著名琴家龔一、姚丙炎學習，并得到老一輩琴家吳景略、張子謙的指導。徐先生一上場并沒有馬上撫琴，而是雙目微閉，凝神屏氣，幾分鐘后，只聽遠處傳來隱約的琴聲，如潺潺溪流悄然而至，只一會兒水聲變得越來越近，也越來越急，旋律跌宕起伏，疾徐分明；而此時，我們手中的陳年普洱也已泡到了第三泡，正是茶葉全醒、香味盡現的時候，耳邊有繞梁不絕的古琴聲，普洱茶的香味彌漫在房間的每一個角落，于是我們像生活在夢幻世界中一樣，變得飄飄欲仙起來。

Master Shares Tea in Hangzhou

By Yuhuo

I became excited and restless in the early August this year after hearing that Master Deng Shihai would visit Hangzhou and share his treasure of Pu’er tea with friends in Hangzhou. Deng is a leading authority on the Pu’er Tea and enjoys a fine reputation in both Taiwan and the mainland.

Born in Malaysia， Deng graduated from Taiwan Teachers University and has been teaching there since his graduation. Since the 1980s， the professor has focused on Pu’er Tea as his professional pursuit. He traveled across the tea plantations across the island province and the mainland and visited Hong Kong for field studies. He produced an academic book on the tea in 1995. A few years later， the book was reprinted by a publishing house on the mainland. Today， it is a must for those who take serious interest in the study of tea.

Puiexcl;macr;er tea is a fermented product pressed into a hard cake or a brick for delivery and long-term storage. The processing method originated in southwestern China’s Yunnan Province and the tea was a tribute to the court in the Ming (1368-1644) and the Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. Pu’er tea now enjoys increasing popularity across the country because of the book by Master Deng.

We met Deng and his two friends from Taiwan at eight o’clock in the evening at the House for International Tea People on the West Lake. Deng joked that he was 63 years old but he had been drinking Pu’er tea for 64 years. He explained that in old times fresh tea such as Dragon Well Tea was only a dream and that only the processed tea like Pu’er was available to overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia， thus his first contact with Pu’er tea in his mother’s belly.

The first drink that evening was made from a cake of Pu’er Tea produced in 1950 by a tea company in Yunnan Province. It emitted a fragrance mixed seemingly with an aroma of jujube and camphor. It tasted slightly sour when the tongue first touched the tea， but the sourness instantly vanished. The master explained that the sourness was the result of the age of the tea cake. In a few years， the sourness would go away and the light fragrance would grow a bit stronger and clearer.

Then we were eager to taste the 80-year-old Pu’er. The master came up with a dark-green tea can， fetched out an incomplete tea cake and placed it on a plate for us to see it. It looked brownish， seemly wrapped up by a white membrane. At the first sniff， I didn’t catch any distinct aroma. At the second sniff， the light camphor-like aroma rose to meet my nose. The master said that a similar tea cake was sold for 75，000 yuan at an auction in August 2004 and in 1995， a similar cake could be bought at a tea shop only for the price of 200 yuan.

The first cup of tea was made. The liquid looked clear and clean in a dark brown color and a rich camphor-like aroma rose. I felt calm immediately. The first sip enabled me to feel the aroma oozing out and touching my face. I could sense the aroma with my nose， my tongue tip and my whole mouth. Every inch of my body seemed to expand and relax. The second sip seemed not as sensational as the first tip at first， but the liquid soon animated all the taste buds. At the third sip， I began to sweat slightly. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the tea completely. The second cup was made from the same tea leaves. The strong camphor-like aroma penetrated my mind and body.

Deng’s book explains the making of Pu’er tea: it was first fermented and then pressed into a cake. Each package presented a design of the moon and the star， presumably for muslin consumers in the west of the country. The English remarks on the package suggest that the same product was sold to Mid-East countries.

Deng visited Hangzhou not just to share tea with us. He also came to enjoy the perfect combination of Pu’er tea and the Gu Qin， an ancient Chinese zither.

According to Deng， enjoying the both at the same time is life’s consummate delight. The next day， we came to the house again. The zither piece was to be played by Xu Junyue， a master musician who inherited the techniques from his father. Master Xu walked to the zither and sat down. He sat quietly for several minutes with his eyes slightly closed. Then the music began lightly like a stream bubbling down a valley. Then the melody quickened and thickened. And I sipped the Pu’er tea made from yesterday’s tea leaves for the third cup while listening to the music. It was a truly beautiful experience. I felt as if I were in a dreamland， flying like a god in the sky.

Master Deng explains that Pu’er tea and the zither share something in common: the old they are， the better they become.

(Translated by David)