The tea plant

The tea plant, first classified by

Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement as Carl von Linné , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and Zoologist, who formalized the modern system of naming organisms called binomial nomenclature. He is known by the epithet "father of modern taxonomy". Many of his writings were in Latin, and his name is rendered in Latin as Carolus Linnæus (after 1761 Carolus a Linné). He classified the plant as Thea sinensis.

And later named Camellia sinensis (L) O. Kuntze, has itsorigin or its centre of dispersal in south west china.  The history of tea is long and complex, spreading across multiple cultures over the span of thousands of years. Tea likely originated in southwest China during the Shang dynasty as a medicinal drink. An early credible record of tea drinking dates to the 3rd century AD, in a medical text written by Hua Tuo.

The traditional major producing countries in south east Asia, are India , Bangladesh, Sri-lanka, Japan and Indonesia.  Later in 19^th century tea cultivation spread beyond Asia

From botanical point of view three mail verities can be recognized in the area of origin of the tea plant, The highlands of southeast Asia:, The China, the assam and the Combodia or indo-china tea.  Camellia sinensis var.sinensis, C. sinensis var. Assamica and C. sinensis var. combodiensis, respectively.  The china and Assam kinds of tea as distinct species, the former being named C. Senensis and the latter C. Assanuca, whilst the third form (“the southern form) is regarded as a subspecies’ of the Assam Plant and named C. Assamica subsp.  Which is same as Combodia type. Although a detailed classification from botanist’s point of view will not be presented here, it should be noted that besides the above mentioned types there are notably heterogeneous populations in which one or more other species of Camellia are involved as species hybrids.

Generally the china type produces flavored teas but its productivity is rather low compared with the assam type. Under natural conditions the plant is an evergreen tree.

The principal constituents of the leaf are a group of soluble substances which can be simply referred to as oxidizable natter, together with pectin, caffeine, and aromatics. The principal agents bringing about fermentation are enzymes contained in the tea leaf which are mixed with the oxidizable matter and pectin by the rolling process.  In the living leaf the enzymes are kept apart from oxidizable matter and pectin in separate parts of the leaf cells.  It is possible that in the living cell the enzymes take some part in building up the substances which they break down in the ruptured cell.  In other words that fermentation is a reversal of some growth process but it is an abstruse point which need not concern us further.