WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Hyped on Tea: Lu Yu, The Sage of Tea

Episode Date: March 2, 2024

In this episode, we dive into the story of Lu Yu, and his journey to become the first man to write about tea. 

You are listening to Hyped on Tea, the show that takes you on a global journey through the world of tea. My name is Josh Hypes, and I'm your host. Last week, we explored the origins of green tea and discussed the best way to prepare it. This week, we're going to dive deeper into the story of Liu Yu, the first man to write about tea, and was widely known as the sage of tea. We're so happy to have you listening today, so let's dive right on in. Our story begins in ancient China during the 6th century in the northern province of Hubei. According to legend, Liu Yu was abandoned as a young baby at the Longhai Buddhist Temple and was adopted by the temple's abbot.

His adopted father raised him and educated him in the religious practices of Buddhism. Liu Yu lived and learned alongside other monks. Although he respected his father, Liu Yu rebelled against the religious teachings of the Longhai Monastery. At the age of 13, he refused to be ordained as a monk and ran away from the monastery to go study the Confucian classics. After Liu's escape, he briefly joined a traveling troop of actors, undoubtedly refining his characteristic charm and wit. During this period of his life, Liu Yu produced a compendium of jokes as his first literary

work. While traveling, he became well known for his comedic personality. Five years after he ran away, Liu's adopted father found him and brought him back to the temple. He was allowed to stay in the monastery and study non-Buddhist texts under the notable local scholar named Zhao Fuze. Under Zhao, Liu Yu learned the ancient Confucian texts, calligraphy, and the art of tea. Zao shared his knowledge of the art of growing, harvesting, and brewing tea with the young Liu Yu.

In the year 755, the An Lu Shan rebellion. took place after a regional warlord rose up against the Imperial Tong Dynasty based in Chang'ang. The rebels seized the capital, forcing the emperor to flee south to Sichuan province. Amid the political chaos, Liu Yu fled south from the conflict, settling in Huzhou, where he met other notable intellectuals who would later influence his life. In Huzhou, he was an active member of the literary elite, becoming a close confident to many notable personalities, including the abbot of Miao Singh Temple, Giao Ran, and his

disciple, Ling Chu, who is a well-known poet. The monk Giao Ren wrote many poems describing his friend Liu Yu, and his expertise in the art of tea. One poem describes Ziao Ren and Lu Yu drinking tea while the rest of the commoners drink wine flavored with chrysanthem during a festival. Ziauran leaves the reader wondering which party truly appreciates the fragrance and delicate of tea. Is it the commoners that dull their senses with alcohol or the enlightened scholars watching from above? For the rest of his life, Liu Yu wandered the countryside of southwestern

China as a hermit. He devoted the remainder of his life to tea in literature. He traveled the countryside in search of new cultivation methods and testing the effects of different qualities of spring water with tea. He also planted tea trees in various locations with different climate conditions. Before writing his masterpiece, he also wrote a brief autobiography of himself, where he described himself as an eccentric hermit. Thirty years after he left the Long Guy Monastery, he published The Classics of Tea, a compendium on the history, art, and philosophy of brewing and cultivating tea. The original volume of the Classics of Tea spanned three scrolls and included ten chapters formalizing the methods and procedures involved in the production, processing, and the

of Chinese tea. According to legend, Liu Yu passed away in 807 AD and was buried next to his friend Xiaowran near a tea tree. And that is the story of Liu Yu, a runaway hermit with a passion for the art of tea. That's it for now. Thank you for listening. This was the fifth episode of Hiped on Tea, and I hope you're hooked on tea. You are listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.