Tea was the muse for poetry, and poetry fueled the popularity of tea. For this reason, the greatest diversity of tea poetry was found in the Tang dynasty when the literati developed a taste for composing or chanting tea poems.
Yuan Zhen (779-831) wrote the pagoda poem ‘Tea’ on the eve of his good friend Bai Juyi’s departure. A Pagoda poem is a poetry form that opens with a single-character exordium and then gradually increases in character lengths until the last line is made up of seven characters. The arrangement takes the shape of a pagoda.
The poem begins by describing the aroma of tea leaves and fresh tea buds which make tea a favourite drink for poets and monks. It then continues to describe the production and preparation of tea, with details like the depiction of a lovely yellow colour resembling flower stamen. Whether enjoyed in evening moonlight or surrounded by early morning dew, tea is a refreshing way to cleanse and comfort one’s soul, both in historical and modern times.
The Seven Strings 