Lu Yu

Lu Yu, a Tang Dynasty figure whose authorship of the Cha Ching (the Classic of Tea) has earned him the status as the “god” of tea, is a fascinating figure who has given us an historical insight into the growing, manufacture and brewing of tea.

I do not want to attempt to relate all about him as this has already been done, probably most thoroughly in The Japanese Way of Tea (University of Hawaii Press 1998),  by the aforementioned Sen Soshitsu XV, the now retired Grand Teamaster of the Urasenke tradition of the Way of Tea, though there are some interesting illustrations provided in the True History of Tea (Thames and Hudson 2009).

What captured my attention recently was a reference to Lu Yu as a purist, an accusation often levelled at me. The context was his disapproval of various additions to tea which included ginger, spring onion, jujube, tangerine peel, dogwood berries, peppermint, etc. Tea in early times was as much a food and or medicine and these flavourings may well be remnants of that. In Tibetan culture tea is boiled for a long time, then churned with yak butter and salt. Apparently the freshness of the butter, or rather its rancidity, has a powerful influence on the pleasure derived, by non Tibetans at least, from this beverage. Lu Yu’s purism did not extend to the addition of salt which he condoned. I have not investigated this condiment in tea but share with Lu Yu the adulteration of tea with flavourings. From time to time I am asked for green tea with various additions such as ginger or, frequently, lemon. My response is to suggest that tea requiring additions may not be good of itself. As Lu Yu wrote: “Such preparations are the swill of gutters and ditches”.

Alex Fraser runs east teas, in the new Jubilee Market of Borough Market, London, on Fridays 12-6 and Saturdays 9-4. Contact via epoch@eastteas.com.