History of Green Tea Page

Green tea has been used in China for medicinal purposes to promote health in mind and body for about 5000 years. The earliest known reference to green tea as a health aid dates back to 2737 B.C. Historically, freshly plucked green tealeaves were used directly for tea brewing or lightly heat-processed for preservation of the "health ingredients" if not consumed immediately.

Green tea was an expensive beverage in ancient China. Its use was confined to the wealthy segments of the population. Only after the fall of the Ming dynasty of the Mongolian empire in 1368 A.D., did tea-drinking spread from the elite to the populace. Green tea was also among the indispensable supplies for sailors. The amount of vitamin C in the tea drink was enough to prevent scurvy, an ailment that would be fatal to many European sailors more than 100 years later.

In a famous painting titled "Drinking Tea" (a poor English translation of the original elegant title in Chinese, meaning "Tea Tending Event"), which is now on display in the Palace Museum, Beijing, the most admired and envied painter of Ming dynasty, Tang Yin (1470-1523), recorded the traditional method for tea preparation at the time when China was the most prosperous nation on earth. As described in the poem written on the painting, an affluent intellect actually plucked fresh leaves from the tea trees growing on the southern hillside below his house to brew tea. This document recorded the fact that fresh or non-oxidized tealeaves, i.e., green tea, were used in the prosperous Chinese society at least until the latter part of Ming dynasty.

Green teas are not fermented. Once harvested, the leaves are either heated in a wok or steamed, followed by hand or mechanical rolling then heated to dry. The process preserves the valuable contents of the leaves enabling vitamins, essential oils and caffeine to be transferred to the brewed tea. Depending on the quality of the harvest and it's processing, the taste of green tea varies from mildly fresh through fragrant flowery to tart and slightly bitter.