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China is considered the home of tea for being the first country to discover tea plants and use them. According to the legend, tea was a medicinal beverage about 5,000 years ago. In the Zhou Dynasty (about 3,000 years ago), it was used as medicine, food and drink. After the Western Jin Dynasty (265 CE–317 CE), it became a daily drink, a necessity just like rice, oil and salt. The Tang Dynasty (618 CE–907 CE) saw the boom of tea culture as The Classic of Tea, the first account of methods of planting, processing, and drinking, was published. It helped the spreading of tea's cultivation methods and culture to Japan and later to the world. Today, there are more than 60 countries growing tea plants and over 160 having the habit of drinking tea.

Tea grows in vast areas in China: over 1,000 counties (cities) in 20 provinces (autonomous cities and regions) covering 6 types of climate zones from 18–37 degrees north latitude to 94–122 degrees east longitude. There are four main tea-growing areas, namely Jiangbei (north of the Yangtze), Jiangnan (south of the Yangtze), Southwest China and Southern China, according to their geographic locations, climates, tree types and methods of leaves processing. Jiangbei plants shrubs with medium-and-small leaves; green tea with an intense perfume and rich flavor is the major variety in the area. Tea produced in Jiangnan includes green, black, oolong, white and other top varieties. As the original birthplace of tea plantation, southwest China has cultivated shrubs, small arbors and arbors for tea trees, producing black, Pu'er and flower-scented teas. Southern China produces tea plants with large leaves and is mostly famous for black, oolong, Pu'er and Liubao teas. The tea from China is in the greatest variety. Apart from green, black, oolong, white, yellow and dark green teas, China also produces reprocessed tea and other deep-processed tea products.