徐艺珈
By the fourth and fifth centuries Tea became a favourite beverage among the inhabitants of the Yangtse-Kiang valley. It was about this time that modern ideograph Cha was coined, evidently a corruption of the classic Tou. The poets of the southern dynasties have left some fragments of their fervent adoration of the “froth of the liquid jade.” Then emperors used to bestow some rare preparation of the leaves on their high ministers as a reward for eminent services. Yet the method of drinking tea at this stage was primitive in the extreme. The leaves were steamed, crushed in a mortar, made into a cake, and boiled together with rice, ginger, salt, orange peel, spices, milk, and sometimes with onions! The custom obtains at the present day among the Thibetans and various Mongolian tribes, who make a curious syrup of these ingredients. The use of lemon slices by the Russians, who learned to take tea from the Chinese caravansaries, points to the survival of the ancient method.
大概在四世纪到五世纪，茶成为最受扬子江流经的山谷居民欢迎的饮品之一。也大概是在这个时期，现代语中的“茶”字被发明出来，而这个字明显是对经典版本的“荼”字的一种误写。在南朝，诗人们留下了许多饱含至诚爱意的文字来描述这“浮着白沫的流玉”。而皇帝则会将由珍稀茶叶配成的制剂赐给朝廷大臣以示恩宠。但在这个时期，人们饮茶的方式仍然是十分原始的，茶叶先是被蒸过，然后放在研钵中碾碎，把碎末制成茶团，最后把茶团投入水中，与米、姜、盐、橙皮、香料和牛奶同煮，有的时候他们甚至会在这里面加入洋葱！而这样的运用方式至今仍存在于在西藏和一些蒙古部落里，他们常常会用这些原料制作一些稀奇古怪配方的草药糖浆。俄国有在饮茶时使用柠檬片的习惯，而他们的饮茶习惯来源于路经的中国商旅，这也是古老习俗残留的证据之一。
