“The ancient Chinese healers believed that the spirit and essence of the Great Mother Goddess flowed from the center of the Earth into plants and minerals. . . . The plants and stones that stored up the greatest amount of soul substance were the ones with good color. Jade, for example, was considered very powerful on account of its brilliant shades of green. The good color may be what attracted the healers also to the luscious, evergreen tea plant and might explain why, in China, tea as a beverage came to be known as the froth of the liquid jade, in honor of the much revered magical stone.”

—Beatrice Hohenegger, Liquid Jade: The Story of Tea from East to West, 2006.