Lu Yu: Biography of the Tea Sage
Lu Yu's personal history is as extraordinary as his achievement. Abandoned as an infant, he was found by the Chan Buddhist monk Zhiji on the Jingling (now Tianmen, Hubei) riverbank in 733 CE and raised at Longai Temple. His monastic upbringing gave him the disciplined attention, philosophical framework, and calligraphic skill that would shape the Cha Jing. He showed literary talent early — reportedly composing verse while still a child — but broke with the monastery when he declined to take Buddhist vows and ran away to join a traveling theatrical troupe.
Through the patronage of the Governor of Jiangzhou, Lu Yu received formal education and eventually settled in the tea-growing Zhejiang region, where he spent 20+ years studying, growing, and codifying tea practice. He spent time at Tiaoxi monasteries, where he befriended poets and scholars, and was held in such esteem that he was offered court positions which he repeatedly declined, preferring his tea and writing.
The Structure of the Cha Jing
The Cha Jing is organised into ten sections across three volumes. Volume 1 covers: (1) the origins and nature of the tea plant — its botany, character, and medicinal history; (2) the tools for making tea — the 27 implements covering processing from harvest to final product; (3) the method of making tea — harvesting, steaming, sorting, rolling, baking, and storing compressed tea cakes. Volume 2 covers: (4) the vessels for preparation — from the wind furnace and charcoal to the bamboo measuring scoop and silk straining cloth. Volume 3 covers: (5) the method of brewing — water quality, fire management, the stages of bringing water to the right boil, and the preparation sequence; (6) the drinking — the occasions and manner of tea drinking; (7) a historical record of tea — earlier references in Chinese texts; (8) tea-growing origins — 22 Chinese regions and their tea character; (9) what to omit in simplified contexts; (10) what to display — guidance on which of the 26 implements could be left out.
🧠 Expert Tip: The Water Hierarchy
Lu Yu's famous hierarchy of water quality for tea brewing: "Mountain spring water is best; river water in the middle; well water is inferior." This is the world's first recorded water quality recommendation for tea — one that modern science partially validates (soft, slightly mineral spring water does produce better tea chemistry than hard river or well water, though the reasons Lu Yu gave were aesthetic rather than chemical).
The Cha Jing's Historical Impact
The Cha Jing had an immediate and sustained impact on Tang dynasty culture. Tea rooms in temples, aristocratic villas, and merchant houses began adopting Lu Yu's recommended equipment and methods as a mark of cultured refinement. The text was reproduced in imperial libraries and regional archives. The Song dynasty built on Lu Yu's foundation — the whisked tea culture of the Song represents a sophisticated evolution of the Tang compacted tea that Lu Yu described.
Lu Yu's legacy was so complete that by the 9th century, ceramic vendors in the Jiangnan region were selling small ceramic figures of "Lu Taishen" (Lord Lu) — placing them in their tea shops as good-luck talismans. He became, within decades of his death, the patron saint of tea — a position that Chinese tea culture still accords him 1,200 years later.
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