Lu Yu and the beginning of tea culture

Who was Lu Yu?

Lu Yu (Name in traditional Chinese: 陸羽, read as Lù Yǔ) was a scholar and Chinese tea master who lived in the 8^th century (733–804, Tang Dynasty) in Tianmen in Central China (Hubei Province).

Legends say, that he was an abandoned child that was brought to a monastery and educated there until he ran away. During his life, he befriended with scholars and developed a strong interest in tea which drove him to research tea to the smallest detail. During Lu Yus period, tea drinking was already common in China, especially in monasteries, and it began to turn into a form of art among scholars, also due to Lu Yus research which he wrote down on in his work Chajing.

Chajing or The Classic of Tea (茶經, chá jīng)  is the oldest (still existing) book on tea and with its detailed descriptions on how to grow the tea plant and how to process tea leafs and brew tea. It inspired countless scholars and tea lovers, not only in China. In Japan for instance, he inspired the 18^th century sencha tea masters, like Baisaō Kōyūgai (賣茶翁高遊外) who praised the old Chinese tea masters in a world of institutionalized tea schools fitting to a feudalistic society.

Today Lu Yu is honored as “sage of tea” 茶神 chá shén) and there is even an institute for the study if tea that is named after him: The Lu-Yu Tea Culture Institute (陸羽茶藝中心, simplified Chinese 陆羽茶艺中心). The institute was founded in 1980 in Taipei and now has three branches in China.

About Chajing

As mentioned above, Lu Yus Chajing was the dwell of inspiration for countless scholars and tea lovers. It is also an interesting document that shows us how people in 8^th century China drank their tea. It consists of ten chapters in three scrolls.

In the first three chapters of Chajing, Lu Yu explains the tea plant, how it is grown and harvested. In the fourth chapter, he lists up his tools and utensils. In the following chapters, Lu Yu describes how to brew and drink tea.

In the seventh chapter, Lu Yu gives an overview on the history of tea and in the eighth chapter, he lists up the best regions for growing tea in China. In the ninth chapter, he gives advice on which utensils one can abbreviate in special circumstances and in the last chapter, Lu Yu advises to use the text of Chajing for scrolls as a quick reference. But it is also said, that the tenth chapter is actually lost.

The book itself is translated into many languages and analysed countless times. The most famous analysis might be by Okakura Kakuzo (Okakura Tenshin). Okakura gives a detailed description of the content of Chajing in his world famous The Book of Tea (New York: 1906) and adds his interpretations based on his broad knowledge of art history.

What Chajing teaches us?

What information can we gain from these ten chapters that might be of relevance for us nowadays? Okakura notes that Lu Yu gives a hint on how tea influenced pottery in China. Lu Yu thought that blue was the perfect color for the tea cup, because it strengthens the green colour of the tea. Blue pottery was originally produced in attempt to imitate the colour of jade, but the coincidence that its colour perfectly fit for tea surely helped to spread its popularity.

During Lu Yus lifetime, tea was already available in various forms. Tea was drunk or eaten with various ingredients, such as rice, salt, milk and spices such as ginger or orange peels. Even onions were used, so Okakura. But Lu Yu rejects all these ingredients, except of salt.

Tea itself can appear as leaf tea in two qualities (觕茶 and 散茶), tea cake (餅茶) or as powdered tea (末茶). The lower quality of leaf tea is made from rough leaves with some stems in it and can be compared to what is called bancha in Japan. The second can be compared to finer leaf teas, where younger leaves are used. Powdered tea is the same as used in Japanese tea ceremony. The last one, the tea cake (or brick tea) is a form of tea that is mainly used in China and Taiwan, but might not be that well known outside of Asia, except of tea lovers. It is nowadays used for Pu Erh teas and has the advantage to preserve the tea for a long time – or even improve its quality through its fermentation. Lu Yu cuts off some of the tea and then grinds it to a powder in order to brew tea. For Pu Erh tea, the brick is cut, but not grind into a powder, and rather enjoyed like leaf tea.

Further, Lu Yu analyses water and comes to the conclusion that water from a mountain dwell would be the best. He boils the water, adds salt and when the water boils a bit stronger, he adds the tea. When the water boils so strong, that it shakes, he adds cold water and then the tea is ready to serve. This shows us how different tea was enjoyed in the 8^th century. The method of infusing tea was unknown until the 17^th century where it was invented by the sencha-dō tea master Nagatani Shūen (永谷宗円, 1681-1778).

Now, we can say that tea already existed in many forms, people enjoyed it not only as a beverage, but as a light meal. And tea had many appearances, not that different from today, even though brewing was different. With his book, Lu Yu who promotes a “pure” way of drinking tea, put his efforts in spreading a new tea culture among the people of his epoch.

References (English, German and Japanese)

Ho, Peng Yoke, Goh Thean Chye and Beda Lim. Lu Yu, the poet-alchemist. Canberra: Australian National University. 1972.

Okakura Kakuzo. The book of tea. A Japanese harmony of art culture & the simple life. Edinburg: Edinburgh Press, 1919.

Wang, Jian and Karl Schmeisser. Lu yu – cha ching : das klassische Buch vom Tee. Graz: Styra Verlag. 2002.

賣茶翁高遊外著／富岡鉄斎加筆書『梅山種茶譜略』佐賀、特別非営利活動法人 高遊外売茶翁顕彰会（1748年）。

陸羽「茶経」（布目潮渢・中村喬編『中国の茶書』）東京、平凡社、1976年、90-99頁。