Classic of Tea

The Chinese began to drink tea about 4,000 years ago, but it was not until 760 AD when the first book on tea came out - Classic of Tea. The author of the book was Lu Yu, a man of letters. Chinese legend goes that a Buddhist monk adopted an abandoned boy from embankment and name him Lu Yu. Feeling dislike for the Buddhist life, the boy ran away from his temple to join an opera troupe when he was 13. He was not a good-looking boy, still more, he spoke with stutter, so he played only the part of clown. To his fortune, during his travel with the troupe he met a famous poet, with whom he had his literary training. In 755 a lasting uprising broke out. To evade the chaos Lu moved to southern province Zhejiang, where he wrote this book in a Buddhist shelter.

Classic of Tea is divided into three sections. The first one has three chapters, discussing tea and its production. The second one has one chapter, listing utensils for production. And the last one has six chapters, covering subjects from tea appraisal to old records. Tea in Lu's writing refers to powdered tea, an ancient tea which gave way to loose tea leaves in the 13th century. (The ancient Chinese molded steamed leaves into cakes. To make a brew, the cake was crunched into powder and then boiled.) The book may seem little practical to a modern reader, for almost all the listed processes are abandoned in modern green tea production, but owing to Lu's writing tea has become an independent subject in Chinese culture ever since.

Classic of Tea
Lu Yu 728 - 804

Chapter 1. Tea

Tea is a beneficial tree in the south, which can grow from one foot to dozens of feet in height. In the mountains of Sichuan it grows so huge that two persons can just get their arms around. The shape of the tree is like aloes-wood, its leave is like that of Cape jasmine, its flower is like white rose, its seed is like that palm tree, its receptacle is like that of clove, and its root is like that of walnut tree.

Rocky land produces the better teas than gravel and clay soil. Tea can be nurtured; however, wild one is still better than planted. To nurture a plant, always raise it form seed, for layering won't give a thriving plant. The plants usually grow to full size in three years. To harvest, on the sunny slope, leaves in color of purple are better than green, in shape of bamboo shoot are better than bud, and those curled are better than those flat. It is bad idea to crop on the shady slope, for those leaves may cause abdomen illness.

Tea is suitable to be a beverage for its chill nature, especially for those who prefer moderate, plain living. In case of thirst, melancholy, headache, weariness of eyes, or trouble in limbs and joints, a few of sips can be sweet dew from heaven. However, a brew made from the leaves that were not properly cropped in time nor carefully processed, or the leaves that were mixed with weeds, causes illness. Jinseng can be an example. The best jinseng is from Shangdang while that from Zezhou doesn't has any medicinal effects. Besides, if one takes capsella bursa-pastoris for jinseng, what effect can he expect?