沫沉华浮，晔若春敷 宋朝绝对是中国古代文人士大夫生活的最佳年代。 宋代的商品经济非常繁荣，社会积累巨大财富，贵族官员收入很高，工作压力小，政治环境又非常宽松。 既有钱又有闲，心中毫无压力，文人当然可以享受生活，享受大自然了。 春天，清明前后，在一个 " 满园春色关不住 " 的庭院中，几个文人赏景，赋诗，斗茶。 斗茶，就是文人各取所藏好茶，轮流烹煮，品评色香，细尝其味，三斗二胜，非要分个高下。 他们先把新鲜珍贵的茶叶慢慢地磨成细末，一种自然的茶香扑鼻而来，这是大自然赐给人类最精华的气息。 然后将抹茶放入建盏中。建盏是朝皇室御用茶具，这种产自福建的黑瓷，胎体厚重，胎内蕴含细小气孔，利于茶汤的保温，适合斗茶的需求，是喝抹茶最好的茶具。 再放入少量的水以后，开始点茶，用茶筅旋转击打和拂动茶盏中的茶汤，击拂都恰到好处，汤花就匀细。 这可是个技术活，击拂要掌握力度，紧咬盏沿，看谁能打出 " 汤花 "，这汤花实则泡沫，均匀细致，久而不散。泡沫越多时间越长为胜，这层 " 汤花 " 是整个茶的精华，堪比 " 人参 "。 想要打出汤花并不容易，这需要了解茶性、水质，水温。茶汤偏白，说明恰到好处；色偏青，火候不足；色泛灰，火候已过；色泛黄，采制不及时；色泛红，烘焙过了火候。 Matcha floats up and down in porcelain, glossy as blooming flowers in spring. Song Dynasty is doubtlessly the best time for scholars living in ancient China. In Song Dynasty, the commerce was prosperous, the society accumulated enormous wealth, and the aristocrats and officials were highly paid and worked with little pressure under a loose political environment. With money and time, the scholars who are free from pressure can enjoy the leisure life and the enchanting nature wholeheartedly. Around Qingming Festival, several scholars gather together in a courtyard overflowed with the beauties of spring, to enjoy the scenery, chant poems and hold a tea contest. During the contest, the scholars take out their treasured teas and boil them in turns. They judge the color and fragrance, and savor the taste to determine the winner. The natural fragrance of tea permeates the air as the scholars slowly grind the fresh and precious tea leaves into powder. This is the most intoxicating perfume that the nature bestows to humans. After that, the Matcha will be placed in Jianzhan, a teaware used by the royal family in Song Dynasty. It is a kind of black porcelain produced in Fujian. Its heavy matrix with small pores can preserve the heat longer, making it a necessity in tea contests, and also the best teaware for drinking Matcha. Then, into the Jianzhan a small amount of water is poured. The tea sommelier holds a bamboo brush to gently beat and stir the tea soup along the rim of Jianzhan. Fine-tuned beating and stirring will create beautiful “tea flowers”. However, the “flowers” are not easy to form. It needs a master hand to control the force and keep the moving bamboo brush closely against the rim. The tea flowers are actually foams which are expected to be uniform, fine and long-lingering. The tea with more foams that last longer will win out. They are the essence of the tea, as valuable as ginseng. To create flowers successfully, you need to know about the nature of the tea, the water quality and the temperature. White tea soup is the best; slightly cyan soup indicates inadequate boiling while grey soup implies excessive boiling; yellowish soup tells premature picking and reddish soup reflects overbaking.