Chajing 茶经 "Classic of Tea"

The Chajing 茶经 “Classic of Tea” is one of the most famous ancient Chinese books on tea. The 3 juan “scrolls” long book was written by the Tang period 唐 (618-907) scholar Lu Yu陆羽 (733－804). Lu Yu never occupied a post in the government although he had been offered the position of Great Supplicator (taizhu 太祝) of the Office of Imperial Sacrifices (Taichangsi 太常寺). Instead, he lived a private life in a very rural style. Because of his deep knowledge of tea, he was also called the “god of tea” (chashen 茶神). In his book Chajing, he describes the origin and spread of the tea plant (Camellia sinensis), the shapes of the leaves of different kinds of tea plants, and the different qualities of tea; the harvest of leaves and different tools used for the preparation of tea leafs; as well as the method of tea fermenting. The second part is dedicated to the preparation of the beverage and the different tools to serve tea. In the last part, he narrates stories about fermenting, drinking, different matters around tea, places of origin, concise statements about tea types , and – very short – an outline of the book.

Inspite of its shortness, the Chajing is very reknowned for its beautiful and concise language. It is included in a lot of collectanea, like Baichuan xuehai百川学海, Shuofu 说郛, Tang-Song congshu 唐宋丛书, Xuejin taoyuan 学津讨原, Gezhi congshu 格致丛书, Bai mingjia shu 百名家书, Tangren shuohui 唐人说荟 and Siku quanshu 四库全书. There are also several other prints from the Ming 明 (1368-1644) and Qing 清 (1644-1911) periods.