A Brief History Of Green Tea

As the Chinese say, tea is better than wine because it invigorates and cheers up without intoxication, and better than water because it does not transmit infection. One of many Chinese legends tells how green tea was discovered.

More than four thousand years ago, a shepherd noticed that his goats, which were eating the buds of a tea bush that day, gained extraordinary agility, playfulness, and movement. The resourceful shepherd immediately thought of adding the leaves he picked to the hot water, which resulted in a nice infusion.

Until the first century BC, untreated leaves were used to prepare a drink in China, and then they began to be dried and fried. In the 7th and 10th centuries, during the Tang Dynasty, many tea plantations appeared in the country, and consumption of the ceremonial drink became a custom. In the court of the Emperors of the Celestial Empire, famous tea masters competed with each other to prepare the most exquisite drink. In the 10th and 13th centuries, traditional pots and dishes were already being used for brewing and drinking tea in China. The drink became popular in Japan, where its tea ritual originated, and also came into use in Korea, India, the Middle East, and Central Asia. Ambassadors brought tea to Europe in 1584. The Portuguese were the first to introduce it, then the Dutch. The British started drinking green tea in 1664 thanks to the East India Company. With the conquest of India and Ceylon, they started growing their varieties there and later switched to black varieties.

Green tea was first tried by Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich and his sons in 1618 after ambassadors from an East Asian ruler brought several bags to him. By the end of the 18th century, tea had come into use among the nobility and the wealthy. In the following century, it became a daily drink for the general population.