Photo courtesy of TeeJe

Camellia Sinesis has another name: Chinese Camellia.

* Individual plant is different in shape
* 2 main kinds: Sinesis (Chinese) and Assam (India)
* is evergreen plant
* Leaves are dark green,
* Best tea is produced from young shoots and buds.
* cultivated Camellia sinensis are maintained 3-5 feet.
* Important factors affecting quality: air, water, sun light…
* Harvest when the plants are 3 years old
* contains caffeine for refreshing
* contains vitamins C, B2, D, K
* contains minerals: calcium, iron, copper…

The tea plant that produces all of the different color of tea like black, green, and yellow tea in the market today is Camellia Sinensis. Tea plant Camellia Sinensis was first cultivated in China. In history, China has the most number of Camellia Sinensis tea types in the world. Now, other countries such as Japan, India, and Vietnam began to collect and cultivate many types of tea plants for their tea productions. Individual Chinese tea plant is also different from region to region. It all depends on the climate and soil conditions.

Characteristics of tea plants

The Sinensis part in the name means China. The Camellia is the name of the species plant. There is another tea plant is Camellia Assam. Assam here means India tea plants – which we will talk later. There’s not much difference. The leaves of the Chinese tea plants are green all year round. Because the leaves always need sunlight to survive, tea plants can only grow in hot climate.

Most of the tea gardens are located on the slope of the mountain. Although the plants prefer lots of sunlight, they can also withstand cold weather. The structure of the tea leaves have dark green color. They have a somewhat elliptical shape. The length of the leaves is varied from 1-10 inches.

Wild Chinese tea plants are known to live as long as 50 years. They can grow as high as 10 feet.
Tea plants that are grown to produce tea leaves for export can only grow to 3-5 feet. These plants are not different from the wild tea plants. People control the height so it’s easier to check the plant and pluck the leaves.

In the tea gardens, tea plants are planted apart from each other, thus avoiding competition for sun light and soil nutrition. To produce high-quality and high-valued tea, tea growers must pay great attention to important factors such as air, water, sun light, level of attitude, soil, humidity, and temperature.

Tea plants’ harvesting

Often, the first harvest begins when the tea plants are about 3 years old. One Chinese tea plant can produce tea leaves for 80-100 years. Tea leaves are often plucked and collected 2-3 times a day. Each collection of tea during the day is called flush. The leaves that are plucked just right after dawn produce the best tea. This usually is the 1st flush. High-quality tea mostly contains young shoots and buds. In nature, tea plants have many antioxidants such as polyphenol and flavornoids to help protect them from insects, bacteria, and fungi.

Those helpful antioxidants are transported into our body when we drink the tea. These antioxidants in the tea plants are shown to boost up the immune system, help with digestion, and have the ability to lower cholesterol. Besides antioxidants, tea contains many essential vitamins AND minerals such as vitamin A, B2, D, K, E, calcium, sodium, iron, potassium, manganese, copper, Zinc…

What’s the caffeine content in tea?

Tea leaves also contain a high amount of caffeine. Through processing, green tea contains the least caffeine. In all, tea only has 1/2 the amount of caffeine in coffee. If you have some problems with caffeine but still want to enjoy the essence of tea, you can choose from a large selection of decaffeinated tea. Camellia Sinensis can also used to decorate the house. It’s an evergreen plant –thus, bring a little bit of nature into your house.