2. The Tea Plant
1.What is Tea?
3. History of Tea
4. Tea sorts and their Production
5. Tea grades
6. Tea regions
7. How to brew a perfect cup of Tea
8. Tea and Health
The tea plant is a flowering evergreen shrub. It belongs to the Camellia family and the correct botanical name is Camellia sinensis.
There are two subspecies:
var. sinensis (originally from China)
var. assamica (originally from Assam).
They are also called Thea sinensis or Thea assamica.
China tea bushes (Camillia sinensis var. sinensis) were discovered over
3000 years ago. It can grow up to four meters and has small, fine leaves.
It is cold resistant and grows slowly. Because of this the Chinese tea
plant produces not many leaves but they have a very fine aroma.
The Assam tea plant (Camillia sinensis var. assamica) was only discovered
in the 1820th in North India. It is actually a tropical tree and can reach
a height of 15-20 meters. This tea plant grows much quicker than the Chinese
one, has bigger leaves and produces a stronger flavour.
There is a third, artificial sort: the Hybrid plant. This is a cross of
the two original plants. The tea farmers try to combine the weather resistance
of the Chinese bush and the fast growth of the Assam tree.
Most of the tea we drink in Europe today comes from Hybrid plants.
The tea plant is reproduced by cuttings (a twig with one leaf and one bud).
They
are grown for 6-18 months (depending on location and weather) in a so
called nursery before they can be planted into the field. You need 15
- 20,000 plants for one hectare tea field.
It is very important to cut the bushes regulary. After 2-3 years growing
and constant cutting the plant reaches a height of approx. 1 metre with
a dense roof of twigs and leaves. Now the plucking can start.
The tea leaves are picked between Spring and Autumn. Depending on location,
weather and the sort of tea plant the leaves can be picked every 7th -
14th day.
Similar to the production of wine, the final taste and quality of tea are influenced by many important contributory factors: climate, soil, altitude, conditions, how and when it is plucked and processed. Tea leaves grow slower at high altitude. A combination of cool air and humidity promotes the desired slow growth. The higher a tea is grown, the more flavour it has and the finer its quality. Many of the world's most famous teas, high grown Ceylon's and the finest Darjeeling's, come from bushes cultivated 1,500 m above sea level.