History of Green tea

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Green tea is an un-oxidized tea that is named – obviously! – For its green colored leaves and green tinged color when brewed. Being by far and away China's most commonly drunk tea, it is the most commonly grown type of tea and also has the biggest representation in the list of China's most favored top ten teas – that include Dragonwell (Xihu Longjing), Dongting Biluochun, Huangshan Mao Feng, Lushan Yunwu, Liu'an Guapian and Xinyang Maojian.  First recognized outside of China in the early 1900's, Chinese green teas quickly became very popular overseas and in 1915 Xinyang Maojian won gold medal for 'best tea in the world' at the Panama World Expo.

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The use of tea leaves probably first originated in the southwest ‘area of China more than 3,000 years ago, and was likely initially used by people just for chewing and eating, in just the same way that coffee was first used by people eating the beans directly in Ethiopia.  Over time, the use of leaves and buds from the tea tree gradually expanded as people began to use in cooking and when added to boiling water to flavor the water they drunk.