Lu Yu (陆羽) (733 - 804) is respected as the Sage of Tea for his contribution to Chinese tea culture. He is best known for his monumental book the Classic of Tea ("Cha Jing", 茶经), the first definitive work on rearing, making and drinking tea, which contains the following chapters:

1. Origin, Characteristics, Names, and Qualities of Tea
2. Tools for Plucking and Processing Tea
3. Varieties, Plucking and Processing Methods
4. Utensils for Making and Drinking Tea
5. Methods of Making Tea and the Water of Various Places
6. Habits of Tea Drinking
7. Stories, Plantations and Tea as a Medicine
8. Which Kinds of Tea Are Better in Different Locations
9. Utensils Which May Be Omitted
10. How to Copy This Book on Silk Scrolls

Biography

Lu Yu was an abandoned child in a time of war, adopted at three by the abbot of the Dragon Cloud Buddhist monastery and had obtained the name Lu Yu (taken from (I Ching). Unwilling to become a monk, he escaped the temple at age thirteen and spent years as a clown and a play writer for a group of traveling artistes troupe before settling down in 760 in the mountainous regions in Zhejiang province to investigate tea process and tea history. 20 years of his research resulted in the book published in 780. Later he wrote another book on twenty sources for fine water. Lu Yu later became known as the saint of tea.

Reference

• The Classic of Tea (ISBN:0316534501)

Lu, Yu; Intro & Translation By Francis Ross Carpenter, Illustrated by Hitz, Demi;Boston, MA: Little, Brown & Co. 1974

• The Classic of Tea: Origins & Rituals (ISBN:0880014164);Lu, Yu; Yu, Lu; Translated by Carpenter, Francis Ross. Preface by Carpenter;New York, New York, U.S.A.: Ecco Press. 1995

See also

• Tea
• History of Tea in China
• Tea Classics

External links

• Tea History
• Think Exist
• Tea