The
tea plant gained generic status of its own in the West in 1753 in
the plant classification Species Plantarium by the famous Swedish
botanist Carl von Linne (Linnaeus). He called it Thea sinensis,
Chinese tea, and believed that green tea and black tea came from two
different plants. Today this is known to be untrue: they come from
the same plant. There are, however, subdivisions, for different
types developed from the original, which is believed to have a
large-leaved tree.
However, to compound the confusion, while there are not many
varieties of plants, the variety of teas abounds. They reflect
various strains, differences in topography, soil, and climate in
diverse tea growing districts, and methods of processing.
Authorities have cited between 350 and 500 varieties of teas. The
prominent nineteenth century British botanist Sir George Watt
defined four varieties of the tea plant, but most tea growers
acknowledge only three, named for location: China, Assam, and
Cambodia. The contemporary scientist J. R. Sealy says there are two,
China and Assam. The Chinese classification of three differs little
from the Western one.
In
the Western classification, the China type is considered to be a
bush, not a tree, mainly because it is multi-stemmed, though it can
be fifteen feet high. It grows at high elevations, can stand cold
winters, and produces for a hundred years, twice as long as other
varieties. The leaves, about two inches in length, are the smallest
of the three varieties, and are serrated and rather hard.
The
scientific name for tea has been a matter of confusion. Some books
list the plant as named by the famous Swedish botanist Linnaeus,
Thea sinensis, because according to the International Rules of
Nomenclature, the first name given a new species is always
maintained. Others call it Camellia sinensis, relying on the studies
of the prominent nineteenth-century botanist Sir George Watt, who on
the basis of location and leaf and tree size concluded that it was a
species of the genus Camellia. A 1958 study considered to be the
definitive one on the taxonomy of tea, A Revision of the Genus
Camellia, by J. R. Sealy, holds that the tea plant is an evergreen
tree or shrub with eighty-one species, five of which are related to
the tea plant. He calls it Camellia sinensis, and this is generally
accepted as the standard today.
The
Assam type, because it is single-stemmed, is considered a tree, and
can reach a height of forty-five to sixty feet. The leaves range
from six to fourteen inches in length. One of its sub varieties is
the dark-leafed Assam which grows at high altitudes at Darjeeling,
India. The fine down on its leaves gives its product the name Gold
Tipped Darjeeling, considered to have a very delicate flavor and
known as "the champagne of tea" The large-leafed trees that grow in
China's Yunnan province are of the Assam type.
The
Cambodian type, growing to about fifteen feet, is also considered a
tree, and is used mainly to cross with other varieties. The Chinese
classifications are (not in exactly the same order) bush, tree-bush
and tree.
Scientists currently believe that all
of the different types of tea descended from one center, probably
located near the source of the Irrawaddy River in Burma, and
gradually spread throughout Southeast Asia in a fanlike movement.
Tea
is grown commercially in a belt that circles the earth on either
side of the equator. "Superior tea comes from high mountains," is an
old Chinese saying, but the best places lie in mountains below 6,000
feet. The altitude and mountain mists help protect against excessive
sunlight and create the right temperature and humidity to enable the
leaves and buds to develop slowly and remain tender. Thus they
produce a higher content of caffeine, amino acids, and essential
oils. The frost, heat, and dampness of the lowlands are not
conducive to good growth. At a daily mean temperature above 68
oF (20 oC) the buds are rough and age rapidly.
Many of China's most famous teas come from well-know mountains: Wuyi
(Fujian), Lushan (Jiangxi), Emei (Sichuan), and Huangshan (Anhui).
Tea plants grow best in an acid soil of pH4.5 to 6.5 with a moisture
content of 70% to 80%, and air humidity above 70%.
Tea
has been cultivated commercially in China for at least eighteen
hundred years and in Japan since 800 A.D. It grows from Hainan in
the remote south as far north as Shandong province in more than a
thousand countries in seventeen provinces (Anhui, Fujian, Gansu,
Guangdong, Guizhou, Hainan, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi,
Shaanxi, Shandong, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, and Zhejiang) and the
Tibet andGuangxi Zhuang autonomous regions. Zhejiang, Hunan, and
Sichuan rank first in order of importance, and Anhui and Fujian are
also big producers. South of the Yangtze River, tea plucking can go
on for seven months a year, and on Hainan Island, all year round.
