王珍
初春,正是杭州西湖邊的愛茶人焦急等待明前春茶的時節(jié)。
勞動路上一間叫“途香”的茶室里,一位眉清目秀的老人正在即興表演宋代點茶,邊上幾個觀摩者看得興奮,發(fā)出尖叫。
表演宋代點茶的老人,正是“非遺”第二代傳承人之一徐南眉。
筆者近日借好友茶室采訪了茶人徐南眉。現(xiàn)場,徐南眉也給我們表演了她的點茶絕活。
湯瓶、黑釉盞、茶筅、茶針、茶粉,一件件茶具擺開在茶臺上。徐南眉給筆者一一介紹講解。細膩的茶粉置入黑釉盞,用湯瓶注水調(diào)膏,她那飽經(jīng)風霜的手腕靈巧地轉(zhuǎn)動著茶筅,將茶膏調(diào)均勻;再注入適量水,轉(zhuǎn)動手腕擊拂茶湯。漸漸地,茶湯中呈現(xiàn)出浮起的沫餑。
看著筆者和茶室服務(wù)生按捺不住地興奮雀躍,善解人意的徐南眉讓我們輪流上場體驗。轉(zhuǎn)動手腕擊拂茶湯的動作,有點像我們平時打蛋花的姿勢,用在點茶上卻很難把握——用力不是太大就是太小,加上轉(zhuǎn)動的時候還要恰到好處的速度,難度不小。
徐南眉說,宋人評判點茶技藝,主要是看茶面湯花是否均勻、色澤是否鮮白,且以“盞無水痕”為上,所以黑色的建盞在宋代風靡一時,恰似宋代祝穆在《方輿勝覽》中說的“茶色白,入黑盞,其痕易驗”。
正想為徐南眉的點茶功夫鼓掌喝彩,不料她說,斗茶還沒完,還有一出茶百戲。只見徐南眉又取些許茶粉調(diào)膏,用茶針蘸上,在打好的茶湯沫餑上寫了一個“茶”字,又畫了兩瓣葉子。
用茶在茶湯上畫畫、寫字,徐南眉說,這就是茶百戲,也叫分茶、水丹青、湯戲、茶戲等,是一種能使茶湯紋脈形成物象的古茶道。
宋代點茶的第一代傳人是寫《大觀茶論》的宋徽宗趙佶,他和他的朝廷大臣、文人們把茶百戲玩到了極致。宋徽宗撰文論述點茶、分茶,還親自烹茶賜宴群臣。
許多文人如陶谷、陸游、李清照、楊萬里、蘇軾都喜愛茶百戲,留下了許多詩文。陸游在《臨安春雨初霽》中寫道:“矮紙斜行閑作草,晴窗細乳戲分茶?!碧展仍凇肚F茗錄》中記載:“百茶戲……近世有下湯運匕,別施妙訣,使湯紋水脈成物象者,禽獸蟲魚花草之屬,纖巧如畫,但須臾即就散滅。”元代后百茶戲逐漸衰落,清代后至今未見相關(guān)文獻記載。
徐南眉用她那雙寫著春秋的素手,恰到好處地激活了史料中的宋代點茶。聽著她娓娓道來,筆者仿佛穿越回宋朝,900多年前古老而珍貴的茶文化遺產(chǎn)一點一滴得以還原。筆者感覺更懂杭州,也更知西湖龍井茶的真味了。
據(jù)了解,徐南眉、阮浩耕等茶人參與研究、發(fā)掘并恢復傳承了點茶技藝,并通過南宋斗茶會等多種形式普及茶文化。2015年,點茶成功申報杭州上城區(qū)“非遺”保護項目。2016年,阮浩耕、徐南眉、彭克榮、徐志高、范敬雯等5人成功申報點茶“非遺”傳承人。
杭州西湖風景名勝區(qū)茶樓協(xié)會每年舉辦農(nóng)家茶藝表演賽。雖然參賽的都是普普通通的茶農(nóng),但他們的茶藝也嫻熟、到位。能把鄉(xiāng)土氣息和文化藝術(shù)糅合得如此和諧、渾然天成,這算得上是茶都杭州的特色。但是,徐南眉說,還可以進一步發(fā)掘創(chuàng)新。因此,當龍井村的茶農(nóng)們請她去做一下輔導時,徐南眉另辟蹊徑,精心設(shè)計了一套西湖龍井的青瓷蓋碗泡法。
一樣是80~85攝氏度的開水,一樣的溫杯、潤茶、搖香,一樣的鳳凰三點頭(茶藝的一種傳統(tǒng)禮儀,是對客人表示敬意,同時也表達了對茶的敬意),翠綠的茶芽在青碧色的龍泉青瓷碗中沉浮、舒展,仿若充滿靈氣的綠色精靈在清澈的碧水間舞蹈,來自泥土的茶葉在同樣來自泥土的青瓷中宛若新生。
青瓷瓷質(zhì)細膩,胎質(zhì)堅硬輕薄,釉色晶瑩純凈,類冰似玉,與細嫩、鮮美、嬌媚的西湖龍井茶相得益彰,給人以“閑靜似嬌花照水,行動如弱柳扶風”的意境。
雖然在諸多茶器中,蓋碗是較難把控的一種,需用雙手協(xié)調(diào)并用,但蓋碗所賦予的緩慢從容、雍容華貴姿態(tài),更符合茶藝的氣韻,使茶藝師的茶藝表演更加優(yōu)雅唯美。
深諳茶性的徐南眉說,嬌嫩的西湖龍井茶泡好后不宜加蓋久泡,會悶黃茶葉使湯氣過熟,易味變色敗。故在茶泡好后奉茶時再加蓋,但不能蓋嚴,留一條縫隙以利散熱,保持茶色青綠。請客人喝茶時掀起蓋子,輕輕地撇去浮葉雜質(zhì),聞其香,則香氣清新醇厚,無濃烈之感;細品慢啜,體會齒頰留芳、甘澤潤喉的滋味。
名師出高徒,經(jīng)徐南眉和她的徒弟們多次培訓和輔導,龍井村在農(nóng)家茶藝表演賽中脫穎而出,獲得了比賽冠軍。
在城市化進程中,一些失地的農(nóng)家女無所適從,也為家庭收入減少擔憂。徐南眉主動送教上門,走進農(nóng)村,從理論到實踐,手把手傳授茶藝技能,教會農(nóng)家女創(chuàng)辦有茶都特色的農(nóng)家樂,極大地豐富了她們的精神文化生活,也增加了她們的經(jīng)濟收入。受她輔導的農(nóng)家女已有數(shù)百人,其中百余人獲得初中級茶藝師職稱。徐南眉則樂此不疲,開拓了一個有意義的普及茶藝的新陣地。
而西湖邊的那些農(nóng)家茶館,向來是老外旅游駐足的熱門地。因此,不少老外在這里迷上了茶藝以及中國茶文化。
通過采訪接觸,筆者感受到徐南眉本人就像一杯色香味俱佳的西湖龍井茶,初品時略嫌清淡,細細體味,慢慢領(lǐng)悟,方能品出甘香而不洌,久留于齒頰之間的那種茶的真味。
早在上世紀90年代末,徐南眉在《中國茶葉》雜志上連續(xù)發(fā)表10篇文章,細細道盡各種茶葉的各種泡法。她在總結(jié)前人經(jīng)驗的同時又不拘泥于固有的法則,而是靈活運用茶性,在實踐中有了更多的探索和創(chuàng)意。她還參加過農(nóng)業(yè)部茶藝師技能教材編寫、浙江省茶藝師技能教材編寫,并參加各項考題、考試指南等書籍編寫,由她編撰的《休閑茶藝》一書,被全國各大院校茶文化師資培訓班及多處培訓中心選為教材。
自1960年從浙江農(nóng)業(yè)大學茶學系畢業(yè)起,到1996年退休,徐南眉大部分時間都在中國農(nóng)業(yè)科學院茶葉研究所工作。退休后,徐老師甚至比上班時更忙了。她煞費苦心地為孩子們設(shè)計了少兒茶道,并帶著徒弟們在杭州市的一些學校開設(shè)茶藝課,以茶道為載體對孩子們進行中國優(yōu)秀傳統(tǒng)文化教育。讓孩子們從小就知道,中國是茶的故鄉(xiāng),茶道傳授著文明古國的禮儀美德。
她培養(yǎng)的一批少兒茶道隊員在“西湖茶會”等各大茶事活動中表演,引起了不小的轟動。更讓人欣喜的是,一些學校的老師、校長也成了徐老師的得意門生,獲得了高級茶藝師資格證。
不僅在學校有徐南眉的身影,在社會上,她也堅持茶文化傳播事業(yè)。她義務(wù)教老年人學茶文化、學茶道,并籌建了一支“老茶緣茶道隊”。老茶緣茶道隊長年堅持免費為市民傳授茶文化知識和泡茶技藝,曾經(jīng)引起不少媒體的關(guān)注。
被稱為“茶界奧林匹克”的中華茶奧會、杭州的西湖博覽會、西湖龍井茶開茶節(jié)、重陽節(jié)孔廟斗茶、百人泡西湖龍井、南宋御街市民免費飲茶站……只要有茶事活動的地方,基本上能看到徐南眉和她組建的老茶緣茶道隊的身影。比如,在杭州國際體驗日中,作為具有茶都特色的重頭戲——南宋斗茶會上,徐南眉和老茶緣茶道隊持重沉穩(wěn)的一招一式,賦予了中華茶文化一種獨特的厚重感。來自美國、英國、法國、德國、新西蘭、意大利、阿根廷、荷蘭、瑞典、西班牙、日本、韓國等32個國家的駐滬領(lǐng)事、文化參贊、商會代表、外籍教授、外企高管、國際藝術(shù)家、留學生等國際嘉賓饒有興趣地駐足觀賞,外國友人無不豎起拇指贊嘆中華茶道之美,以及“非遺”文化之魅力。
在傳播茶文化的道路上,茶人徐南眉走得很遠。喚醒那些漸漸淡出現(xiàn)代生活的茶歷史、茶文化,還原那些曾經(jīng)在南宋皇城杭州民間十分興盛的斗茶等古老的茶道,讓茶藝深入人心,成為茶都人不可或缺的基本素質(zhì)……這些是茶都茶人徐老師的心愿,更是她每天都在做的事。
Xu Nanmei Brings Song Teaism Back to Life
By Wang Zhen
It was the tea season of the year. Tea lovers were waiting anxiously for the first harvest of the tenderest spring sprouts in the plantations of the West Lake environs. In a teahouse on Hangzhous Laodong Road, a graceful lady was wooing the guests with a Song-style tea ceremony. The lady is Xu Nanmei, an inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage conserved from the Song times.
When the tea ceremony is understood and practiced to foster harmony in humanity, promote harmony with nature, discipline the mind, quiet the heart, and attain the purity of enlightenment, the art of tea becomes “teaism”. In the Song times (960-1279) of China, the art was called “dian cha”.
During a recent meeting with us, Xu Nanmei demonstrated a whole set of rituals, tools and gestures that contain an adoration of the beautiful among the unpleasant facts of everyday life. She carefully placed the finely ground tea powder into the lovely cups with black glaze, and, using a tea whisk and a tea needle, mixed the powder with a dose of hot water. It looked as if a sorceress was wielding her magic wand. The mixture was whisked to produce beautiful froth.
The guests were then invited to take turns to try the elaborate process. The blending requires a slower, stirring motion that is by no means easy to master, not to mention all the other details regarding the artistry that also aims to yield the best taste.
“The Song teaist had a big thing about how the well-stirred mixture looked like. The foams should be smooth and creamy and no lumps should be left in the liquid; the mixture should have the desired color and luster, with a uniform consistency, and no ground tea should remain on the sides of the cup,” Xu Mainan shared, “The most popular color of the cups used by the teaists of the Song was black, because the striking contrast makes it easy to assess the quality of the final outcome, as recounted in a book by a Song writer known as Zhu Mu.”
We were about to applaud her masterful performance when the lady gestured us to get ready for more stunts. She took a bit more powder and mixed it with some water, and then used the needle to write the Chinese character “茶” (meaning “tea”) on the fine froth. The final touch was two lovely leaves created around the Chinese character. The artistry was called “fen cha” or “tang xi” by the Song teaists.
Interestingly, Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty wrote a book about tea and was regarded as a representative of the first generation of the teaism of Song. The emperor loved the tea ceremony so much that he obviously spent more time than he should have in the indulgence. At such a glorious period when science, art, poetry and culture flourished, the select society had plenty of leisure time for devising creative ways to eat and drink just to kill time.
Other celebrated enthusiasts of “fen cha” in the Song Dynasty included as Tao Gu, Lu You, Li Qingzhao, Yang Wanli and Su Dongpo, whose addiction in “the way of tea” is reflected in many of their poems.
The fad waned in the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) and almost disappeared in the Qing (1644-1911) times of China. Today, the unique refinement, inner spiritual content, humility, restraint and simplicity of the Song-style teaism is being brought back to life by the wrinkled hands of teaists like Xu Nanmei and Ruan Haogeng. The inexplicable abstractness, symbolism and formalism of the ancient art also contribute to a better understanding of the magnificent Longjing tea tradition of Hangzhou.
In 2015, “dian cha” became a district-level intangible cultural heritage. The next year, Xu Nanmei, together with Ruan Haogeng, Peng Kerong, Xu Zhigao and Fan Jingwen, was officially approved as the inheritor of “dian cha”.
The late 1990s saw the publishing of a series of articles by Xu Nanmei in , a periodical dedicated to the Chinese tea culture. One of her books is used as a textbook in many training organizations across China.
Xu graduated from the Tea Department of Zhejiang Agricultural University in 1960, and has spent most of her time in the tea research institute of China Agricultural Science Academy since her retirement in 1996. She is also the inventor of tea education for children.