The tea bush is a single species, Camellia sinensis, a plant native to northern India, Tibet and China. All teas, either Assam (assamica) or China (sinensis) are varieties of this single species, Camellia sinensis.

The tea bush, Camellia sinensis, is an evergreen, tree-like shrub. Each spring, it yields fragrant white blossoms, about an inch in diameter. Each blossom becomes a fruit, inside of which grow one to three seeds.

Camellia sinensis can grow in climates from Mediterranean to tropical and at altitudes from sea level to eight thousand feet but it flourishes at altitudes of between two thousand and sixty-five hundred feet in areas receiving moderate rainfall.

The most common cultivated variety, Camellia sinensis assamica or Assam tea has little resistance to cold and grows well only in tropical areas. The assam tea plant has large leaves. These tough little trees are hard to kill and in China they frequently live longer than one hundred years.

China tea, or Camellia sinensis sinensis, which has been commercially cultivated for nearly 2,000 years, offers lower yields than Assam tea but produces a delicately flavored beverage.

China tea can tolerate brief cold periods and thus higher altitudes than Assam tea. Because tea bushes grow luxuriantly in a climate that is hot and wet, with at least one hundred inches of rainfall a year, tea is grown commercially in the humid region surrounding the equator. It flourishes best in rich soil.

Like coffee trees, tea bushes usually grow best and produce better tea in the shade of trees planted nearby to protect them from the scorching tropical sun. The seedlings are first grown in nursery beds and after about six months the young shrubs are transplanted to the tea garden. After three years of careful tending, the plants are fully developed and ready for their first plucking.

Thereafter each will be pruned to a height of three to five feet and plucked. Pruning is vital to the production of tea because it stimulates the growth of flush, the tender young leaves from which tea is made.

Each tea bush produces at most only ten ounces of finished dry leaf a year. Both Assam and China tea plants are trimmed to waist height to stimulate the bush and make plucking the leaves easier. Ideally, only young leaf shoots and the unopened leaf bud ("Two leaves and a bud") are harvested.

Plucking the young leaves without destroying the health of the plant is a highly skilled job. Superior tea results when only the growth bud or "pekoe" and the next youngest leaf are taken.

The best teas are high grown on terrain that precludes mechanization and even industrialized countries like Japan and Taiwan still pluck their teas by hand.

Tea classification: Black tea: Green tea; Oolong tea; China tea; Assam tea | Flavored: Scented; Infusions; Decaffeinated