The Tea Shrup

Tea, a tree-like plant, is maintained shrup -like for the tea cultivation by regular pruning. Tea belongs to the species of the camellia. The evergreen shrup has got dark, ridged, leather-like leaves. The flower is white or rose-coloured; the fruit is samll with a hard shell, similar to a hazelnut. Nowadays, its reproduction is rarely done trough pollination but rather vegetative, where cuttings are grown on the high-yielding parent shrub.

Thea Sinsensis (or Chinese Tea) It remains shrub-like even without regular cutting and growsto a height of only 3 - 4 m. This shrub flourishes best in moderate climatic zones and can even withstand frost.

Thea Assamica (or Assam-Tee) It becomes a grand tree of a height of 15 - 20 m if not cut back regularly. This tea shrub requires a lot of warmth and is a purely tropical plant.

These two primal tea plants have been crossbred again in order to develop finer, more aromatic and, especially, more robust breeds. The so-called Assam-hybrid has proven particularly suitable. It is important to acknowledge that the differences in taste and quality not only depend on the plant itself, but also on the cultivation region, its climatic conditions and the deligent plucking as well as processing of the tea leaves.