All tea comes from the same plant (camellia sinensis) and like most plants, its leaves are green. Green tea preserves that green color and freshness. China and Japan produce the highest quality green teas, though many other countries are now producing it as well. Green tea usually produces a light body with mild astringency and a vegetal/grassy character.
Simply put, tea leaves have a green appearance. To keep that green appearance, the leaves for green tea are “fired” soon after they are picked off the plant and only allowed minimal withering. “Firing” will prevent oxidation from happening.
Oxidation is a natural chemical process that turns fresh tea leaves into black tea (the same process that causes an apple to turn brown after cutting it open). A tea is “fired” by subjecting the tea leaves to a brief period of high heat to neutralize the enzymes that enable oxidation.
Other types of teas go through the firing process, but green tea is the only one that goes through it as the first step.
The common cup characteristics of green tea tend to be a light body with mild astringency and a vegetal/grassy flavor, but these will vary with each particular style.
