I felt a moment of confusion as I took in the walls of the tree house before remembering the events of the previous day. Wow, was I stiff. Muscles I didn’t even know I had hurt with an almost impressive intensity I hadn’t known was possible. The room felt stuffy, and I eased myself off the couch ...
—Lu Yu, eighth-century tea master CHINA ISOLATES HERSELF Although historical events in China during the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries had little direct impact on the story of tea, they form a chapter that cannot be ignored, for these events formed the foundation for the tremendo...