It is said that a Chinese emperor was sitting under a tree when leaves fell into the pot of water he was boiling. He drank the water and found, to his surprise, that it made him feel uplifted and revitalized. He concluded that the leaves had caused this and so brought some back for further experimentation. This small incident triggered the beginning of tea drinking in China and in the world.

According to another legend, tea was discovered by a poor woodcutter who was chopping trees in the hills when he saw several monkeys plucking leaves off a tree and chewing them. He tasted some of the leaves, liked it and brought some back to the village. He told others of his discovery and soon, everyone was adding leaves from the tree to their drinks.

Chinese tea may be classified into five categories according to the different methods of processing.

1) Green Tea: Green tea is the variety which keeps the original color of the tea leaves without fermentation during processing. This category consists mainly of Longjing tea of Zhejiang Province, Maofeng of Huangshan Mountain in Anhui Province and Biluochun produced in Jiangsu.

2) Black Tea: Black tea, known as "red tea" (hong cha) in China, is the category which is fermented before baking. It is a later variety developed on the basis of the green tea. The best brands of black tea are Qihong of Anhui , Dianhong of Yunnan, Suhong of Jiangsu, Chuanhong of Sichuan and Huhong of Hunan.

3) Wulong Tea: This represents a variety half way between the green and the blackteas, being made after partial fermentation. It is a specialty from the provinces on China's southeast coast: Fujian, Guangdong and Taiwan.

4) Compressed Tea: This is the kind of tea which is compressed and hardened into a certain shape. It is good for transporting and storage and is mainly supplied to ethnic minorities living in the border areas of the country. As compressed tea is black in color in its commercial form, it is also known in China as "black tea". Most of the compressed tea is in the form of bricks; therefore, generally called "brick tea" though it is sometimes found in the form of cakes and bowls. It is mainly produced in Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces.

5) Scented Tea: This kind of tea is made by mixing fragrant flowers in the tea leaves in the course of processing. Flowers commonly used for this purpose are jasmine and magnolia, among others. Jasmine tea is a well-known favorite with the northerners of China and with a growing number of foreigners.