Green Teas have played a central part in the way of life of Eastern cultures for thousands of years. Far more than just a drink, they have been regarded as medicine, spiritually calming and the centrepiece of elaborate rituals.

By AD221 Green Tea was replacing wine at royal banquets and it soon became the national drink of China as the ordinary people also became tea drinkers.

Monks involved in meditation in remote mountain monasteries began growing fine elegant teas which they used in the long hours of contemplation as a refreshing and relaxing pick me up.

By the Seventeenth Century, Green Tea was being exported to the West where it became more and more popular. You may be surprised to know that only 150 years ago in Britain the teas of choice were slightly fermented Green Teas and it wasn’t until the 1880s that fully fermented black tea became popular.