2 words: Camellia Sinensis
It’s the mother tea plant of all tea. The varying colors such as green, black, white, yellow, and Oolong are due to differences in processing methods of the tea leaves after being plucked.
Photo courtesy of autan
In order to have a decent cup of tea, the tea leaves’ chemical changes and structure have to be controlled since the tea plants were first grown. The plants that produce some of the best teas in the world often are cultivated more than 4500 feet above the sea level. At this height, the atmosphere is cooler to slow the growth of tea plant. Due to this reason, cultivated tea leaves often are richer and more flavorful.
Wild plant is often left to grow more than 40 feet. But cultivated plants are often kept at about 3-4 feet high. The first tea plant was first named Camellia Sinensis in 1753. This is an evergreen plant. Different soil and weather conditions can give rise to different types of Camellia Sinensis. Sinensis is sweet-smelling and can be very productive in producing high-quality tea leaves.
A closer look at Indian’ s Camellia Assam
Another major type of plant is the Camellia Assam. Camellia Assam is originated from India. This kind of plant flourishes better in India’s soil and climate than in China’s.
Camellia Assam was first discovered by two brothers Robert and Charles Bruce in early 19th century.
The Assam plants are single stemmed. They can grow as high as 60 feet in the wild. Assam Camellia are a bit different from Camellia Sinensis even though they both belong to the same genus.
Camellia Assam has more leaves and can grow vertically faster than Camellia Sinensis. The first 300 pounds of Assam tea was produced in 1838. This initiated the India’s tea trading with many Western countries.
In 1903, India government passed the Indian Tea Association. This law requires the government to save a fraction of the profits from tea exportation to promote and advertise India’s Assam tea in the West.
Do You know how tea was grown?
In order to grow tea plants, the land must first be cleared out either burning. The seeds are then tested for germination potential by submerging them in water.
If a seed has enough nutrients inside for it to grow until it was able to take nutrients from the soil, it will sink to the bottom. Flat seeds or empty seeds will float to the surface. Those seeds will not yield healthy plants. Thus, they are tossed away. The place the plants are cultivated is often called tea garden or tea farm, depending on the size of the land.
Tea garden seems to fit more with the delicacy and simplicity of tea drink. Tea farms often exist in Indian and Sri Lanka. While tea gardens can often be found in Japan and China. There are a handful of criterions in tea growing to produce high-quality leaves. The conditions may vary, but few of the major criteria must be satisfied.
Tea plants need warm climate and at least 5-6 hours of sunlight each day. Therefore, they are mostly grown in tropical or sub-tropical climate. Major countries that are leading in tea production are China, Japan, Vietnam, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and South Africa.
Why America couldn’t grow tea?
America has tried many times to cultivate its own tea plants but all of the attempts were failed. The first attempt was in 1775 and the last one took place in 1920. The seeds could grow in southern states such as Georgia and Florida but large production of tea were too expensive.
However, there are certain kinds of plants that actually like the cold climate such as cold summit oolong tea, Fukien white tea, and mountain tea. This tea can also thrive in soil that is low in nutrients.
The plants must be grown more than 4000 feet above the sea level. Higher altitude and colder air slow the growth of tea leaves due to limited photosynthesis. Thus, this method will minimize the size of the leaves yet still retain all of the natural chemicals of the plants. Another criterion for a healthy tea garden is that the plants need at least 90 inches of rain fall each year.
Dryness and lack of precipitation would cause the leaves turn yellow. A hot temperature of 80-85 F is necessary for the health of the plants and the quality of the leaves. Tea plants flourish in soil that is rich in acids, nitrogen, and nutrients. To avoid competition for soil nutrients and sunlight, plants often are cultivated in squares or triangles wit about 3500 bushes per acre.
Plants that are grown on the plains are more productive than those on the hill slopes. Plants that are on the slopes produce fewer leaves and have shorter harvesting season. But those fewer leaves have higher qualities since the conditions of the growing land force the tea growers to pay great attention to the changes of leaves.
In about 3 years after plantation, the plants are ready for harvest. Low-grown plants take shorter time to grow but also have shorter harvesting season. High-grown plants take longer to grow but in turn they can produce high-quality leaves for more than 50 years.
Tend for the tea plants
While the plants are growing, the area around the root must be free of weeds and other wild plants.
These things will compete with the tea plants for soil nutrients. They sometimes can spread fungi and diseases to the tea leaves.
The teas that are grown in shaded area are generally healthier than those in un-shaded areas.
The reasons for this are that plants in shade are protected from the excessive amount of sunlight. Also, these plants can acquire more nutrients from the fruits and leaves that are dropped down from the big trees.
In order to collect high-quality tea leaves, the plants must be pruned constantly. Without pruning, the plants will grow like wild plants and the leaves become rough and tasteless. By pruning, the tea growers provide more opportunities for the young shoots and buds to emerge.
It’s worth to mention that products that contain mostly young leaves and buds are considered to have higher value and more expensive.
