Its liquor is like the sweetest dew from Heaven.
– Lu Yu
The History of Tea
The origin of tea is traced to Southwestern China. China is known as the first country to use tea leaves and as the birthplace of tea. There, various tea plants were first cultivated over 2,000 years ago, with Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan in Southwestern China pointed as the regions of tea origin.
Although Lu Yu is regarded by many current-day tea masters as "the Sage of Tea" or even “the God of tea”, he is not the first person to discover it. Lu Yu was known for his detailed account of tea in his book The Classic of Tea (茶經 – Cha Jing) and for perfecting the craft. The Cha Jing is known as the first written account of tea culture in the world.
Who Is Lu Yu?
Lu Yu lived 733-804 AD in China’s Tang Dynasty. According to records, Lu Yu was abandoned as a baby at a temple and was adopted by a monk.
This monk was famous for his knowledge and love for tea. He enlightened Lu Yu on how tea is grown, picked, and made. From a young age, Lu Yu was already instilled with a deep love and appreciation for tea. With time, Lu Yu gradually became an expert in tea, poetry, and calligraphy.
However, Lu Yu did not wish to pursue becoming a monk. Instead, he became a highly educated scholar and traveled around China, meeting many people and, most importantly, learning all there is about the art of tea. Despite his high status, he was indifferent to fame and enjoyed a humble and peaceful lifestyle, often times found sharing a good brew with some friends. Lu Yu spent years composing Cha Jing, completing it around 760 AD during the mid-Tang period.
Tang Dynasty Tea
We should be aware that the tea drunk during Lu Yu’s time was not what we know tea to be today. It was an unoxidized tea, made from tender leaves. They were steamed and crushed immediately after steaming, then compressed into cakes.
"For Lu Yu, tea symbolized the harmony and mysterious unity of the universe."
Below is Lu Yu’s account of making tea (a powdered tea drunk during those times):
At “second boil” (when the bubbles start slowly streaming up) one should take a scoop of the boiling water for later use and using a pair of bamboo tongs to stir the water, creating a swirl. Into the swirl one adds the prepared tea powder using a scoop. Soon after the water will be ferociously boiling. At this point we add the scoop of water previously removed. This way the water will not over-boil.
The froth created by this brewing method is key to enjoying the tea. This method is still used in Japanese tea ceremonies for enjoying matcha.
Although the original methods of tea preparation described in the Cha Jing are now outdated, they are still used by certain ethnic minorities in China.
Lu Yu would use more than one word to describe what we all know as tea. Teas full of umami sweetness would be called “jia”. Bitter teas would be called "mao".
The word “cha” emerges as early as the Han dynasty (206BC - 220 AD). It replaces the character 荼 ("tu") previously used to describe the tea plant and finished tea. Lu Yu mentions in his "Classics of Tea" that tea once had many names before finally settling on 茶 ("cha").