8月初，听说台湾的邓时海先生来杭州了，而且要与杭州的茶友分享他的好茶，心里变得坐立不安起来。邓先生可是当今的普洱茶权威啊，他在宝岛和大陆的茶界声誉卓著。
普洱茶品网 http://www.puercp.com/7/view-3028845.htm
邓时海先生祖籍广西，出生于马来西亚，后以“侨生”身份考入台湾师大，毕业后一直留校任教授至今。从上世纪80年代起，邓教授开始系统研究普洱茶，十几年间奔波于台湾、香港和大陆，出版了专著《普洱茶》，几年后云南科技出版社购买此书版权在大陆出版，被茶人视为必读之书。 邓先生除了对普洱茶有深入的研究，更是杨式太极武艺第六代传人，他在各大专院校教拳30余年，对先生来说，太极拳与普洱茶都是他生命中的最爱。
据邓时海所著《普洱茶》一书载，“普茶”一名首次见诸文字在明代，据万历谢肇《滇略》记载：“士遮所用，皆普茶也。蒸而成团。”；《云南志》载：“普洱山在车里宣慰司北。其上产茶，性温味香，名普洱茶。”明清时已成为贡茶，普洱茶进入清宫深受欢迎，“普洱茶名遍天下。味最酽，京师大重之”，传说慈禧当时年高，最喜欢在冬季里刚吃完油腻便喝普洱茶，图它又暖又能解油腻。《红楼梦》“寿怡红群芳开夜宴”一回中，贾宝玉“今儿吃了面怕停食，所以多顽一回子”，林之孝家的又向袭人等笑说：“该焖些普洱茶喝。”
我们与邓时海先生相见在杭州西子湖畔的国际茶人村。晚上8点刚过邓先生就来了，同来的还有台湾的曹先生和经营普洱的张先生。邓先生面目清瘦，精神矍烁，他沉静、温和、干练，一如陈年普洱。先生风趣地说，他今年63岁，但喝普洱却已经有64年了。他解释道这是因为当年交通不便，南洋一带的华侨、华人喝不到中国的新鲜茶，所饮的大都是普洱老茶、陈茶，所以他在娘肚子里就开始喝普洱茶了。
那天晚上，大家先品的是一片中茶云南分公司的50年红印七子饼。汤清自不必说，香味似乎夹杂着樟香枣香，而在入口的一瞬间还感觉有些许酸味，然到了口中却再也找寻不见。先生说，这酸味和年份有直接的关系，再过几年，这些许的酸味就会自然消逝，与此同时，现在所感觉到的隐隐的香味也会变得更为明朗起来，这都是自然转换的结果。
我们终于要喝百年普洱了。先生拿出一个墨绿色的茶叶罐，从里面拿出一短柄紧茶（准确的说是大半个）放在盘子里让大家观赏：紧茶呈黄褐色，外层似乎覆盖有一层白色的薄膜，有点像瓷器表面的包浆，一闻并无特别的香味，再闻感觉有淡淡的樟香隐隐约约地发散开来。先生说这是鼎兴号末代紧茶，已有七八十年的历史，因此可称为百年普洱。2004年8月故园茶馆曾拍卖过一块类似的紧茶，成交价达75000元，而在1995年此茶的售价大约在200元左右。先生说，此茶的特点是山韵气势足，甘化樟香厚，陈味气感强。
第一泡出来了。汤呈深栗色，清透明亮，凑近就可闻到一股浓浓的樟香，此气厚重踏实，沉沉地沁入肺腑，让人身心一下子变得沉静起来；第一口喝到嘴里，浓浓的樟香居然溢满了整个脸庞，鼻孔呼出的是樟香，舌尖触到的是樟香，双颊满溢的还是樟香，而且这茶汤就像不需要吞咽一样，它酽酽地滑了下去，于是体内就像被熨斗熨过似的变得服服帖帖，随后，每一寸肌肤都舒展开来，似乎樟香渗透了每一个毛孔；喝第二口，刚开始似乎没什么味道，但舌尖却有些酥麻，柔滑的茶汤让味蕾也跟着颤动起来；再喝第三口，太阳穴有些许发涨，而身体也开始微微发汗，通体舒畅。这时候最好的享受就是闭上眼睛任茶汤缓缓地滑下去，真是“唯觉两腋习习清风生”……第二泡更为醇厚，茶汤入口水路绵厚柔顺，樟香源源不断地在口中在身体里弥漫开来，可谓至厚至柔。先生把这块茶的品质归纳为16个字：无味之味，口齿留香，舌底鸣泉，陈韵仙灵。
邓先生说，普洱茶的绝配是古琴，此次他来杭就是为了主持一个“普洱与古琴对话 ”的活动，让茶友们在欣赏古琴悠长韵律的同时，品到各种不同品质的普洱茶，于是决定明天与普洱与古琴来一次深入的透彻的零距离牵手。
那天的古琴曲奏的是“高山流水”，由浙派琴筝传人徐君跃演奏。徐先生出生于杭州古琴世家，祖籍浙江海门人，祖父为浙派著名琴家徐元白，其从小随祖母黄雪辉，父亲徐匡华习琴，后又师从著名琴家龚一、姚丙炎学习，并得到老一辈琴家吴景略、张子谦的指导。徐先生一上场并没有马上抚琴，而是双目微闭，凝神屏气，几分钟后，只听远处传来隐约的琴声，如潺潺溪流悄然而至，只一会儿水声变得越来越近，也越来越急，旋律跌宕起伏，疾徐分明；而此时，我们手中的陈年普洱也已泡到了第三泡，正是茶叶全醒、香味尽现的时候，耳边有绕梁不绝的古琴声，普洱茶的香味弥漫在房间的每一个角落，于是我们像生活在梦幻世界中一样，变得飘飘欲仙起来。
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.
Pu¡¯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)
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