Tea plant varieties

The tea plant

The tea plant is an ancient cultivated plant that has been used by humans for thousands of years in its area of origin from Yunnan to Assam. The plucked leaves are processed into different, often endemic types, with qualities ranging from machine-produced mass products to artisanal processed rarities.

The Latin name of the tea plant is camellia sinensis. It develops uninfluenced into a tree several meters high, it needs a subtropical climate and can grow very old. Tea trees that are several hundred years old are still regularly harvested and their leaves are processed into very high quality teas. In the province of Yunnan, tea trees over 1000 years old are famous and still cultivated. For tea cultivation, however, the plant is usually pruned to the size of a bush about one meter high. The tea is generally picked by hand, with a few exceptions (Japan, partly Taiwan, large plantations). In China, however, more and more cheap teas are being picked by machine, as the pickers are paid more every year and their numbers are decreasing. The picking rule for good teas is still "two leaves and a bud", i.e. the top leaf bud and the two leaves below it, although there are various exceptions.

Tea plant varieties

There are many varieties under this term, just as the term grape covers various varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Syrah and others. All varieties belong to the Camellia sinensis family, the tea plant. Cultivated varieties are normally referred to as cultivars, from the portmanteau word of CULTIvated and VARiety.

The border area of ​​Yunnan, northern Vietnam, northern Laos, northern Burma and Assam is the region of origin of the tea plant. There are old tea trees everywhere here. The variety of these old tea trees is called Qiaomu Dayezhong (HighTree BigLeafVariety). The tea plants variety grown from their cuttings and further bred are called Dayezhong (BigLeafVariety), which are called Camilla sinensis var. assamica in Western literature.

From its region of origin, the tea plant was spread by humans throughout southern China; By and large, tea is grown everywhere south of the Changjiang (Yangtze). Most tea-growing regions have existed since at least the Tang Dynasty (618-906). In 810, a Buddhist monk probably brought tea seeds to Japan. At the beginning of the 19th century, the British and Dutch brought tea plants to their colonies in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) and British East Indies (especially to Assam and Darjeeling). Later, tea was also grown in other colonies, particularly in Africa, and today even in South America.

For a very long time, tea plants for new plantations were grown from seeds, i.e. by natural reproduction, which led to the emergence of many varieties over the centuries. Certainly cultivators tried to influence natural crossing and breeding, just as we did e.g. with cereals in Europe. This is how the many tea plant varietals developed over time, small-leaved and adapted to the specific local climate. These varietals were later described collectively as camellia sinensis var. sinensis and also brought to Darjeeling, as the climate there was not right for the plants from Assam. It is a very recent development that most tea plants are reproduced exclusively in vegetative ways, i.e. grown from cuttings. In this way, all plants for a specific kind of tea are always genetically identical, which gives a typical individual taste to every tea.

Of course, there is not only ONE varietal of the Camellia sinensis var. sinensis, but an innumerable number of them. They have adjusted to the local climate and circumstances and/or have been bred to fulfil specific criteria. In China, these varieties are grouped under the name "Xiaoyezhong" (small leaf variety). The individual varieties carry a specific name, for example ZhuYeZhong in Qimen, FuYunZhong in Tanyang (these are bred varieties that often also have numbers in their designation) or they are simply called BenDi QunTi XiaoYeZhong (local colony small leaf variety), or they are named after the place or province they come from, e.g. Sichuan XiaoYeZhong. These are varieties that have grown naturally and of a certain degree of similarity. Nowadays these are also reproduced vegetatively; this in order to maintain a specific variety.

The tea plants grown in Japan and Korea are also local varieties or cultivated varietals of Camellia sinensis var. sinensis.

There are also different types of Camelia sinensis var. assamica, and various varieties have been bred from crosses between var. assamica and var. sinensis, especially in India. Hence one generally speaks of Hybrids or clonals instead of varieties. In China the var. assamica is named DaYeZhong and is mostly grown in Yunnan, or is found there naturally as old tea trees. A major problem with the naming of the varieties is that various further breedings of local Xiaoyezhong (small leaf varieties) with slightly larger leaves are called "Dayezhong" (large leaf variety) - even though they are var. sinensis tea plants. The Chinese term Dayezhong does not always stand for var. assamica.

Furthermore one differentiates between different groups of tea plant varieties within the Camellia sinensis var. sinensis: on the one hand the Dabai-varieties, then the Zhongyezhong and within this category particularly the Oolong-tea varieties.

1: The varieties for green, Puer, black and white

Large-leaved, often called assamica:  Da Ye Zhong

Small-leaved, often called sinensis: Xiao Ye Zhong

Medium-sized leaves: Zhong Ye Zhong

Breedings with hairy leaves: Da Bai

2: Classic varietals and older breeds for Oolong

Wuyishan, the four famous cultivars: Da Hong Pao, Tie Luo Han, Bai Ji Guan und Shui Jin Gui

Minnan Wulong, Anxi and surrounding areas: Tie Guan Yin, Huang Dan, Mao Xie, Ben Shan, Mei Zhan, Rou Gui

Fenghuang Dancong; in another form also elsewhere: Shui Xian

Varieties from Taiwan: Qing Xin Wu Long / Ruan Zhi Wu Long, Qing Xin Gan Zhong, Qing Xin Da Pang, Huang Gan Zhong, Da Man Zhong, Ying Zhi Hong Xin

3: Newly bred varietals for Oolong and some rare old cultivars

Newer breeds from Taiwan: Jin Xuan, Cui Yu, Hong Yu, Hong Yun, Si Ji Chun

Various varietals from Fujian: Fo Shou, Qi Lan, Ban Tian Yao, Wu Yi Zhong, Ai Jiao Wu Long Jin Guan Yin, Huang Guan Yin, Jin Mu Dan