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Thus chastened in spirit, quiet in mind and surrounded by proper company, one is fit to enjoy tea. For tea is invented for quiet company as wine is invented for a noisy party. There is something in the nature of tea that leads us into a world of quiet contemplation of life. It would be as disastrous to drink tea with babies crying around, or with loud—voiced women or politics-talking men, as to pick tea on a rainy or a cloudy day. Picked at early dawn on a clear day, when the morning air on mountain top was clear and thin, and the fragrance of dews was still upon the leaves, tea is still associated with the fragrance and refinement of the magic dew in its enjoyment. With the Taoist insistence upon return to nature, and with its conception that the universe is kept alive by the interplay of the male and female forces, the dew actually stands for the "juice of heaven and earth” when the two principles are united at night, and the idea is current that the dew is a magic food, fine and clear and ethereal, and any man or beast who drinks enough of it stands a good chance of being immortal. De Quincey says quite correctly that tea "will always be the favorite beverage of the intellectual，” but the Chinese seem to go further and associate it with the high-minded recluse.
一個人在這種神清氣爽、心氣平靜、知己滿前的境地中， 方真能領略到茶的滋味。因為茶須靜品，而酒則須熱鬧。茶之為物，性能引導我們進入一個默想人生的世界。飲茶之時而有兒童在旁哭鬧，或粗蠢婦人在旁大聲說話，或命通人者在旁高談國是，即十分敗興，也正如在雨天或陰天去采茶一般的糟糕。因為采茶必須天氣清明的清早，當山上的空氣極為清新， 露水的芬芳尚留于葉上時，所采的茶葉方稱上品。照中國人說起來，露水實在具有芬芳和神秘的功用，和茶的優劣很有關系。 照道家的返然和宇宙之能生存全恃陰陽二氣交融的說法，露水實在是天地在夜間和融后的精英。至今尚有人相信露水為清 鮮神秘的瓊漿，多飲即能致人獸長生。特昆雪所說的話很對，他說："茶永遠是聰慧的人們的飲料。”但中國人則更進一步，而視它為風雅隱士的珍品。
