46 Green Tea History

Green Tea History


Before accidentally turned into 'black' during its transportation in the 17th century, tea had no color. However, despite that, green tea has a long and wonderful history. Green tea has been around for hundreds of centuries, dating back in Chinese literature as far as 5,000 years ago! It dates back to 2737 BC based on some Chinese legends, stories and some literature.
A man known as Shien Non Shei found the plant, and tasted a leaf from it. He thought it tasted fantastic, and decided to mix it with water to make a drink out of it. He also thought that the plant had medicinal properties. Another story says that the Emperor, Shen Nung, came upon the tea when a leaf from the plant fell into a cup of hot water he was drinking at the time.

The brew that can be called tea appeared around the 2nd century in China, when sun-dried green leaves were chopped and boiled as a drink, the earliest green tea. In the 7th century, the ancient Chinese began to prepare their tea into the shape of pie. Steamed, molded and baked dry, the pie was smashed by a roller and boiled at tea time. Pie tea was popular for a long period until banned by Emperor Hongwu in 1391.

Tea was introduced to Korea at the end of the 4th century along with Buddhism. In 805 AD, a returned Japanese monk brought with him the seeds of tea from Mt. Tiantai of Zhejiang Province and planted the first tea in Japan. (Japan has only green tea and tea-makers still use Chinese steaming method today).

When pie tea was replaced by loose leaf tea, roasting method replaced steaming method in Chinese tea production. There were 58 recorded well-known teas at that time. In 15 of them still in production today, 13 teas are green teas.

In 1673, England imported Chinese green tea for the first time. After the franchise of tea importing being suspended by a Chinese emperor, England started tea plantations in India.
Green tea has been used in China as a healthy, medicinal drink for approximately 5,000 years. Green tea was the drink of choice among the leaders and the wealthy. The tea leaves were used fresh from the plant for tea brewing, lightly heat processed, or even eaten right away. In ancient China, tea was a costly drink, consumed only by the rich and wealthy of the population. However, following the fall of the Mongolian Empire back in 1368 AD, the whole population of China began to experience the wonderful consumption of tea, including green tea.
Between 1405 and 1433, when China had the power of the sea, the seamen were given the necessary amount of green tea. The antioxidants in the green tea they drank fought off scurvy, which killed many Europeans sailors several years later.
Tea consumption was introduced to the United States by Europe, as a part of the worldwide tea trade, and also by Chinese immigrants who owned Chinese restaurants in the United States