History and Interesting Facts Of China Green Tea

CHINA GREEN TEA has been consumed in Asia, particularly in China, for thousands of years. Records show that it was a common beverage and cooking ingredient 3,000 years ago in parts of Southwest China, before spreading over the following centuries to India and then Japan.

From the 3rd century through the 6th century, this tea was mostly considered a “luxury item” before new techniques for drying and distributing green tea led to more mass production and availability among the public. According to the Teavivre, a tea company, during the time of the Song Dynasty in China (AD 960–1279), “tea drinking had become an integral part of the daily life of all Chinese, in a similar way to how afternoon tea became ingrained in the English culture. The use and production of so-called ‘tribute teas’ — those produced to be presented to the emperor and other high officials — became an important part of royal culture and a source of government taxation.” (16)

Today, an estimated 2.5 million tons of tea leaves are produced each year throughout the world, with 20 percent of that being green tea. Green tea didn’t become popular or widely distributed outside of Asia until about the early 1900s. China, other countries in Asia, countries in North Africa, the United States and Europe currently consume the most green tea worldwide.