Dongxi shicha lu 東溪試茶錄

Dongxi shicha lu 東溪試茶錄 "Tasting tea at the Eastern Creek" is a book on tea written by the Song period 宋 (960-1279) scholar Song Zi'an 宋子安, of whose life is not much known. The bibliography Junzhai dushu zhi 郡齋讀書志 calls the author erroneously Zhu Zi'an 朱子安. The "Eastern Creek" Dongxi was located in the prefecture of Jian'an 建安 (modern Jian'ou 建甌, Fujian). The short book was intended as a supplement to the classic Chalu 茶錄 that was written by Ding Wei 丁謂 and Cai Xiang 蔡襄. It is divided into eight chapters describing the preparation of tea leaves, tea gardens, tea mountains, kinds of tea, the plucking of the leaves, and problems of tea. The book provides details about the regions where tea can be cultivated, the colours, fragrances and tastes of the beverage and gives clear information about the differences of each kind. The Dongxi shicha lu is very important because it is one of the few Song period books on tea that have survived. Lü Huiqing's 呂惠卿 Jian'an chayong ji 建安茶用記, Zhang Bingwen's 章炳文 Junyuan chalu 壑源茶錄 and Liu Yi's 劉異 Beiyuan shiyi 北苑拾遺 are lost. At least, the statements in the book of Song Zi'an can be compared with those of contemporarian books like the Xuanhe Beiyuan gongcha lu 宣和北苑貢茶錄 or its appendix Beiyuan bielu 北苑別錄.
The Dongxi shicha lu is included in the reprint series Baichuan xuehai 百川學海, Shuofu 說郛, Gezhi congshu 格致叢書, Bai mingjia shu 百名家書 and Siku quanshu 四庫全書.