By Mark T. Nickum, PhD
Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze, in the family Theaceae, is grown through an impressive range of tropical and subtropical regions, and in some instances can survive in snow and below freezing temperatures. Tea is found as far north as 41 and 42° N in areas such as Turkey and Georgia, and as far south as 27° S in Argentina. In subtropical areas tea is grown in Japan -Kyoto and Kanaya; China -Yunnan and Zhejiang; North India -Assam, Cachar, and Darjeeling; Taiwan; and Central Africa -Malawi. In tropical regions tea is found in South India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya (Othieno 1992). The Theaceae section in the Flora of China (Min and Bartholomew 2007) cites C. sinensis as being found at an elevation of 100-2200 m, in evergreen, broad-leaved forests and thickets. It is found in the Chinese provinces and regions of Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, S Shaanxi, Sichuan, SE Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang, Taiwan, and listed in NE India, S Japan, S Korea, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. Since it has been widely cultivated over such a long time, the original wild distribution in E Asia is obscured (Min and Bartholomew 2007).
In equatorial regions, tea is typically planted at high altitudes (1000-3000m), and as plantings are made further away from the equator, they are closer to sea level. The species developed in the Himalayan mountain range. Key climatic requirements which developed for the species out of its environment of origin include temperatures somewhat less than tropical, relatively continuous rainfall throughout the year, and high humidity. The species is used to low soil pH which can be highly leached. Two types of tea are generally recognized: the Chinese variety, Camellia sinensis var. sinensis, which developed in the northern slopes of the Himalayas and in higher altitudes, and is more tolerant of cooler temperatures than the Assam type, var. assamica, which developed in the south. The Chinese variety developed in less dense forest where it was not as wet, cooler temperatures, and developed into more of a bush with smaller leaves, while the Assam variety developed in rainforest conditions as more of a tree with larger leaves (Willson 1999).
It is postulated, by odontological examination, that Gigantopithecus blacki consumed tea by chewing on the wild leaves growing in the wild tea forests as part of the large ape’s habitat (Evans 1992). If this is correct, that would mean that Gigantopithecus blacki was consuming some form of tea potentially 100,000 to 1,000,000 years ago, long before humans were ever on the scene. Other anthropologists also speculate that Homo erectus would have found wild tea trees growing in forests of Yunnan in their search for edibles (Heiss and Heiss 2007).
Among tea’s earliest uses, besides that of firewood, was that of medicine. In the Shang dynasty (1766 to 1050 BC), in Yunnan, tea was boiled with other herbs and plants which made up the herbal remedies of the time. Later, in the Zhou dynasty (1122 to 256 BC), tea trees were discovered in Sichuan Province, just to the northeast of Yunnan. This may be the first place and time where tea was boiled by itself to form a drink solely of tea, without the purpose to be medicinal (Heiss and Heiss 2007).
Tea clearly became a “cultural keystone species,” beginning in China. Among other drinkers of tea, the monks of the three great religions of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism strongly favored tea for its healthful and stimulating properties from about the middle of the Zhou dynasty (1122 to 256 BC). The monks recommended for all people to drink tea daily (Heiss and Heiss 2007). Tea drinking became more widespread throughout China during the reign of the first Qin emperor, Qin Shihuangdi (r. 221-210 BC). Qin Shihuangdi ordered the completion of some previously built fortification walls, that were eventually joined to form the Great Wall of China. Imperial palaces were also built throughout the empire. These projects brought together many workers from all across China, and among the exchange of food, culture, and knowledge that took place, tea was shared and became universally desired by a great many people. Later, tea was planted in a garden on top of Mengding Mountain in Sichuan province around 53 BC. This planting was made by Wu LiZhen, who was a holy man. The garden and its plants, now called the Seven Tea Trees, was allowed to be used only by the emperor because of the supreme quality of the tea. It is from this garden that the seeds of Sichuan’s numerous tea gardens came, and Wu LiZhen has become known as the forefather of tea cultivation (Heiss and Heiss 2007).
Tea has been cultivated by the Chinese for well over 2000 years (Weatherstone 1992). In earlier days tea was mostly grown on many thousands of small plots with only a small number of bushes. Original development of the Chinese variety occurred in the regions of Sze-chuan, Yu-nan, Burma, and Siam. Tea was spread by the people of these regions for generations, and tea plants have been found growing close to all the caravan routes between China and India. Tea grown in the south-east of China remains relatively un-hybridized, while tea growing in the Assam region has become highly hybridized between the wild Assam plants of the region and the introduced Chinese tea varieties brought in by the colonial powers (Weatherstone 1992). Currently in China, about 340 named varieties of Camellia sinensis are cultivated and all six major classes of tea are made (Heiss and Heiss 2007).
Tea plantations spread to other areas of the world when British interests in tea grew. The Assam region was ceded to Britain in 1826 after the Burmese wars. To introduce tea plants from China to Assam, the long journey up the Brahmaputra river from Calcutta by country boats was over 1000 miles and took four and a half months (Weatherstone 1992). In 1835, an introduction of 20,000, ten month old Chinese tea seedlings, were brought on these boats up to Assam and this met with very limited success of establishing healthy plants. In fact, 12,000 seedlings died during the trip alone. At best, 500 plants survived when planted out, and later they were moved to an area where the wild Assam tea was thriving. The discovery of wild tea plants growing in the jungles of Assam greatly facilitated the development of tea plantations and the tea industry in India. It was found that the Chinese variety was very sickly in this region, and the Assam variety thrived. Initial development of tea plantations was undertaken by the Tea Committee, and by Charles Bruce, who became Superintendent of Tea Culture in 1835. Bruce established nurseries, and searched out the most rich wild tea tracts which were found in the Muttack country of upper Assam, including Chabwa, Deenjoy, and Tingri. Chinese people who were specialists in tea processing and manufacture had to be brought in to process the new tea. The first shipment of tea produced on these initial plantations, left Calcutta bound for Britain in May 1838 and these eight chests were sold on the London Commercial Sale Rooms in January 1839. This was the first India tea sold in Britain, which had only dealt in Chinese tea up until this point. After the government established that tea could be grown successfully in India, the new tea plantations were handed over to private enterprise by lease (Weatherstone 1992).
The Chinese tea plant produces abundant seed, and as Chinese tea seed continued to be brought into the Assam region, it did eventually become established in the area, and became known as “the curse of the tea industry in Assam.” Tea seed from Manipuri, Assam, and China was used by the Assam Company to spread tea to the various regions developing tea plantations in India, as well as Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and as far as Java and Sumatra. In the 1920s, tea seed was shipped from Calcutta to Odessa, where Russia undertook cultivating its own tea industry in Georgia. Much of the spread of tea around the world can thus be linked to India (Weatherstone 1992).
So the earlier use of tea as medicine and then as popular beverage occurred in China early on, on small production scale, multiplied many times over. Later development of plantation systems were made by semi-clearing of existing forests in India which contained wild tea plants and thus forming “cultivated tea tracts.”
While in the past, tea was propagate by seed, currently specific varieties are selected and propagated vegetatively by single-leaf cuttings.
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