Chalu 茶錄

Chalu 茶錄 is a book on tea written during the Song period 宋 (960-1279) by Cai Xiang 蔡襄 (1012－1067). Cai Xiang occupied several posts as a prefect in southeast China, one of the central regions of tea productions in China. He finally became an academician of the Duanming Hall 端明殿. Cai Xiang was famous for his calligraphy. Besides the Chalu, he has also authored the Lizhipu 荔枝譜, a book on lychee cultivation. His collected works are called Cai Zhonghui ji 蔡忠惠集.

Apart from Cai Xiang's Chalu, there are three more texts with the same title.

Cai Xiang's 2-juan-long Chalu begins with a preface in which the author gives the reasons for the compilation of the book. A postface was added when the book was printed in 1604. In the first part, the book describes colours, smells and tastes of tea, how it is was to be stored, oxidated, powdered, sieved, how infusions are made and how tea is served. In the second part, Cai Xiang describes the tools used for all these different processes of preparing the leaves and the beverage.

The Chalu is included in the series Baichuan xuehai 百川學海, Shuofu 說郛, Gezhi congshu 格致叢書, Bai mingjia shu 百名家書, Wuchao xiaoshuo 五朝小說, Wuchao xiaoshuo daguan 五朝小說大觀, Hou sishi jia xiaoshuo 後四十家小說, Siku quanshu 四庫全書 and Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編.

The other three books titled Chalu were written during the Ming period 明 (1368-1644). The first one, compiled by Zhang Yuan 張源, courtesy name Boyuan 伯淵, style Qiaohai Shanren 樵海山人, from Wuxian 吳縣, Jiangsu, focuses on the production of the local biluochun 碧螺春 tea. The 23 brief chapters are all based on Zhang's private observations and bring forward arguments not found in other books on tea. It is included in the series Chashu quanji 茶書全集 and is quoted in Tu Benjun's 屠本畯 (1542–1622) Mingji 茗笈 from 1610 and in Yao Kecheng's 姚可成 Shiwu bencao 食物本草 (with the wrong title Zhonglang Xiansheng chapu 中郎先生茶譜).

The Chalu of Feng Shike 馮時可 (b. 1549), courtesy name Minqing 敏卿, style Yuancheng 元成, from Songjiang 松江 (today part of Shanghai) is included in the series Xu shuofu 續說郛, Wuchao xiaoshuo, Wuchao xiaoshuo daguan, Siku quanshu 四庫全書, Yimen guangdu 夷門廣牘 and Jingyin Yuan-Ming shanben congshu 景印元明善本叢書 and quoted in the encyclopaedia Gujin tushu jicheng 古今圖書全集. The text consists of no more than 5 paragraphs and does not seem to have originate in the hands of a writer and scholar like Feng.

With a length of 4 juan, the Chalu of Cheng Yongbin 程用賓, courtesy name Guanwo 觀我, from Xindu 新都 (today's Chun'an 淳安, Zhejiang), is the most extended text with this name. The preface, written by Shao Qitai 邵啟泰, is dated 1604. The book mainly quotes from older texts on tea, but also adds some private observations. The last part of the book speaks about the wide array of crockery and instruments used for the preparation of tea and is illustrated. The book is included in the series Bai mingjia shu.