Tea Leaf Green was founded in the fall of 1996, when Scott Rager met Ben Chambers on the campus of San Francisco State University.

In early 1997, Josh Clark, a childhood friend of Rager, moved from Los Angeles to San Francisco and became the third member of the band, joining on guitar and vocals.

It was released on Bongo Boy Records and featured twelve original compositions, including songs such as "Professor's Blues", "Asphalt Funk", and "California", all of which remained part of the band's live repertoire for years.

[2] In the early part of the 2000s, Tea Leaf Green was an integral member of a burgeoning rock music revitalization in San Francisco that also featured bands such as Animal Liberation Orchestra and New Monsoon.

While continuing to tour extensively through the United States, Tea Leaf Green headed to Navarro Ridge Range in Mendocino, California, forsaking the confines of the city, to record Taught to Be Proud (2005), the band's fourth album.

The film emphasized the struggle facing a young band, capturing footage of the members at home and in the streets of San Francisco as they discuss hardship and sacrifice in the pursuit of a dream.

In late 2007, less than two months after Chambers's exit, Tea Leaf Green introduced Reed Mathis, of Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey (JFJO), as its new bass player.

In an early 2011 interview with The Waster, Trevor Garrod announced the fifth addition to the band, percussionist Cochrane McMillan, and a spring 2011 release of the studio album, Radio Tragedy.