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The history of green tea began in China. It is possible to find references to green tea in Chinese literature as far back as 5000 years ago. There is an old Chinese legend that says a man was out walking one day when he accidently tasted the juices from a leaf of a tea plant. He though it tasted great and even felt the tea had special medicinal properties.
He decided it would be a good idea to create a drink by mixing it with water. This man was called Shien Non Shei.
As with all ancient history there are different stories to be told. Another legend suggests it was actually an Emperor called Shen Nung who discovered tea when a tea blossom fell into a cup of hot water he was drinking.
Maybe these two men were even one in the same person. Whichever story is true I don't know but thankfully it was discovered!
From this time on the history of green tea began to develop. In those days all tea was green. It was only later that Oolong and black or red teas were developed. Black tea is fermented and Oolong is semi-fermented. At that time tea was drunk fresh with the new leaves being mixed with hot water. It was already being noted that the tea was beneficial to the nervous system and aided digestion.
Tea drinking grew in popularity and became a pastime of the rich. Fine teas were only available to those who could afford them and green teas were even used as acurrency. Elaborate tea ceremonies developed involving large sets of tea makingequipment. Tea houses sprung up and tea connoisseurs prided themselves on thequality of their leaves and their tea making skill.
A book written in the Tang dynasty is considered one of the most important in the history of green tea. The book was written by Lu Yu and is called the "Tea Classic" or "Cha Jing". It was written between 600 and 900 AD and spoke about exactly how and where one should enjoy a fine cup of green tea.
Eventually green tea made it's way to Japan in the 800's and the Japanese developed their famous teas such as Sencha, Matcha and Bancha. The history ofgreen tea developed further by the introduction of Oolong and black teas. It isbelieved this happened sometime after 1600 AD. Oolong tea then became very popular in the South of China.
It is believed that Oolong tea, which is partially fermented green tea, became popular because green tea itself was so efficient in helping the body to riditself of fat that people decided they needed to keep the fat as times were sohard. They switched to drinking oolong tea which contains less fat oxidizingelements. Oolong tea is still one of the most popular teas in China today.
Green tea drinking was not just about the tea itself. A whole sub-culture of teapots, tea cups and tea sets developed. Tea became an art form with different producers vying for business in the manufacture of stylish and functional teamaking equipment. Some of the most famous tea pots come from the town of Yi Xing with it's world famous purple clay tea pots.
Eventually tea was brought to Europe and the USA. This happened in the 1600's.Since then tea drinking has blossomed. The history of green tea continues with tea now being the second most popular drink on the planet.
