If you look up ‘tea’ in the first cookery book that comes to hand you will probably find that it is unmentioned; or at most you will find a few lines of sketchy instructions which give no ruling on several ofthe most important points.
你買到一本新的廚藝書，打開一看，基本上是找不到有關‘茶’的內容，或者說你最多能找到寥寥幾行毫無意義的簡短說明。
This is curious, not only because tea is one of the main stays of civilization in this country, as well as in Eire, Australia and New Zealand, but because the best manner of making it is the subject of violent disputes.
這可就奇了。這不僅因為茶無論在這個國家，還是在愛爾蘭、澳大利亞或是新西蘭，它都是以一種重要的文明形式存在著；而且‘如何泡出一壺好茶’可是多年來人們熱議不斷的一個話題。
When I look through my own recipe for the perfect cup of tea, I find no fewer than eleven outstanding points. On perhaps two of them there would be pretty general agreement, but at least four others are acutely controversial. Here are my own eleven rules, every one of which I regard as golden:
當我歸納自己的泡茶規律時，我發現了至少11條玉律。其中有2條已經得到公認，至少有4條經常引發爭議。現在我將其一一列出，這11條是我心中泡茶的金科玉律：
First of all, one should use Indian or Ceylonese tea. China tea has virtues which are not to be despised nowadays — it is economical, and one can drink it without milk — but there is not much stimulation in it. One does not feel wiser, braver or more optimistic after drinking it. Anyone who has used that comforting phrase ‘a nice cup of tea’ invariably means Indian tea.
首先，要使用印度或是錫蘭的茶葉。中國茶獨特的魅力流傳至今——它很經濟、不用加奶就能喝——但是卻少了一些振奮精神的作用。喝了之後很難讓人感到更有想法、更勇敢或是更樂觀一些。當我們在安慰別人時說“喝杯茶吧。”的時候，往往指的是印度茶。
Secondly, tea should be made in small quantities — that is, in a teapot. Tea out of an urn is always tasteless, while army tea, made in a cauldron, tastes of grease and whitewash. The teapot should be made of china or earthenware. Silver or Britannia ware teapots produce inferior tea and enamel pots are worse; though curiously enough a pewter teapot (a rarity nowadays) is not so bad.
其次，茶葉量不可多，也就是說得用茶壺泡茶。用大缸煮出來的茶淡而無味，而用汽鍋燒出來的行軍茶有一股子炊火氣。茶壺最好是瓷的或是陶的。銀茶壺或是大不列顛茶壺略遜一籌，搪瓷的就更糟糕了；另外現在十分少見的錫镴茶壺也是不錯的選擇。
Thirdly, the pot should be warmed beforehand. This is better done by placing it on the hob than by the usual method of swilling it outwith hot water.
第三，泡茶前要先溫壺。最好將茶壺放在爐具上加熱而不是僅僅用熱水衝一下壺身。
Fourthly, the tea should be strong. For a pot holding a quart, ifyou are going to fill it nearly to the brim, six heaped tea spoons would be about right. In a time of rationing, this is not an idea that can be realized on every day of the week, but I maintain that one strong cup of tea is better than twenty weak ones. All true tea lovers not only like their tea strong, but like it a little stronger with each year that passes — a fact which is recognized in the extra ration issued to old-age pensioners.
第四，茶要濃。一誇脫容量的茶壺，如果要住滿熱水至口沿，那就得放滿滿6茶匙的茶葉。在食物定量配給的日子裡，這做法可不是日常能見到的，但我堅持認為一杯濃香的好茶比喝20杯淡茶美妙得多。所有真正的愛茶人都喜歡濃茶，而且隨著年歲積澱，對‘濃’的要求也與年俱增——對年長者發放額外的配給這一事實已經充分佐證了這一點。
Fifthly, the tea should be put straight into the pot. No strainers, muslin bags or other devices to imprison the tea. In some countries teapots are fitted with little dangling baskets under the spout to catch the stray leaves, which are supposed to be harmful. Actually one can swallow tea-leaves in considerable quantities without ill effect, and if the tea is not loose in the potit never infuses properly.
第五，茶葉直接放入壺中。不要什麼濾網、穆斯林茶包或是別的勞什子玩意兒來捆住茶葉。在一些國家，茶壺嘴下會掛置一個小網兜來過濾茶葉，這可能是因為覺得吃茶葉有害健康。但事實上人適當吃些茶葉並不會有什麼副作用。但如果茶葉不在壺中充分舒展，就永遠無法泡出茶的真味。
Sixthly, one should take the teapot to the kettle and not the other way about. The water should be actually boiling at the moment of impact, which means that one should keep it on the flame while one pours. Some people add that one should only use water that has been freshly brought to the boil, but I have never noticed that it makes any difference.
第六，泡茶時要用茶壺去接熱水，而不是將熱水注入茶壺。水進入茶壺時必須是滾開的，也就是說你在倒水的時候，開水壺絕不能離開爐火。有些人補充認為必須用頭遍燒開的水泡茶，切不可用重復加熱的水泡。但我個人倒是沒覺察到這兩者間有什麼區別。
Seventhly, after making the tea, one should stir it, or better, give the pot a good shake, afterwards allowing the leaves to settle.
第七，泡好茶最好攪動一下，或者更好的方式是搖晃一下茶壺，然後讓茶葉慢慢沉澱。
Eighthly, one should drink out of a good breakfast cup — that is,the cylindrical type of cup, not the flat, shallow type. The breakfast cup holds more, and with the other kind one’s tea is always half cold before one has well started on it.
第八，應該用早餐杯喝茶——這種杯子呈圓柱形而不是又平又淺的那種。早餐杯容量大，不像別的杯子，你還沒開始喝，茶就已經半涼了。
Ninthly, one should pour the cream off the milk before using itfor tea. Milk that is too creamy always gives tea a sickly taste.
第九，加奶入茶前要先脫脂。過濃的奶味會讓茶出現奇怪的味道。
Tenthly, one should pour tea into the cup first. This is one of the most controversial points of all; indeed in every family in Britain there are probably two schools of thought on the subject. The milk-first school can bring forward some fairly strong arguments, but I maintain that my own argument is unanswerable. This is that, by putting the tea in first and stirring as one pours, one can exactly regulate the amount of milk whereas one is liable to put in too much milk if one does it the other way round.
第十，應該先倒茶入杯。這一點可說是最具爭議的觀點之一了，事實上在英倫大陸上的每個家庭就這個問題都會有兩派意見。“先放奶派”會舉出許多有力論據，但我仍堅持個人觀點。因為你先倒茶到杯子裡，然後進行攪拌，這樣便於控制後加入的奶的量，以免加的過多或是過少。
Lastly, tea — unless one is drinking it in the Russian style — should be drunk without sugar. I know very well that I am in a minority here. But still, how can you call yourself a true tea-lover if you destroy the flavour of your tea by putting sugar in it? It would be equally reasonable to put in pepper or salt. Tea is meant to be bitter, just as beer is meant to be bitter. If you sweeten it, you are no longer tasting the tea, you are merely tasting the sugar; you could make a very similar drink by dissolving sugar in plain hot water.
最後一點，茶——除非你喝俄式的——不應該加糖。我很清楚在這點上我屬於少數派。但是我仍要指出，你把糖加入茶中從而破壞了其原有的風味，這樣做的話，你怎麼還好意思說自己是愛茶人呢？如果可以加糖，那加辣椒粉或是鹽也都可以啦。茶本來就是先苦而後甘，就如同啤酒應當帶點苦味一樣。如果你把茶變甜，那你就不是在喝茶而是在吃糖了，要知道，把糖融解在熱開水中也可以得到相似的味道。
Some people would answer that they don’t like tea in itself, that they only drink it in order to be warmed and stimulated, and they need sugar to take the taste away. To those misguided people I would say: Try drinking tea without sugar for, say, a fortnight and it is very unlikely that you will ever want to ruin your tea by sweetening it again.
有些人回答說自己並不喜歡茶的味道。他們喝茶是為了暖身或是提神，因此要用糖來減輕茶的苦味。對這些被誤導的人，我只能說：試試喝不加糖的茶吧，試他個兩周，之後你很可能就不想再用甜味來毀掉自己的茶了。
These are not the only controversial points to arise in connexion with tea drinking, but they are sufficient to show how subtilized the whole business has become. There is also the mysterious social etiquette surrounding the teapot (why is it considered vulgar to drink out of your saucer, for instance?) and much might be written about the subsidiary uses of tealeaves, such as telling fortunes, predicting the arrival of visitors, feeding rabbits, healing burns and sweeping the carpet. It is worth paying attention to such details as warming the pot and using water that is really boiling, so as to make quite sure of wringing out of one’s ration the twenty good, strong cups of that two ounces, properly handled, ought to represent.
以上這些並不僅是關於茶而產生的各種觀點，它們更說明了喝茶已經成為了一件很細致的事情。圍繞著茶壺有不少神秘的社會禮節（比如，為何喝茶喝到底朝天是一種粗俗的行為？）而關於茶葉的其他妙用也有不少描寫：比如茶末算命、預言來客、餵兔子、治療燒傷、清潔地毯。有些細節值得我們關注，比如泡茶前先溫壺，要用沸水泡茶，這樣做才能保證讓我們配給到的每2盎司茶葉能夠物盡其用地泡出20杯濃香好茶。”
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