Tea is the second most popular drink in the world, after water! It is the Camellia sinensis plant; when the leaf is brewed in hot water it makes what we at Tea Horse, and billons of other people in the world think is a delicious, refreshing, reviving drink. Technically, herbs such as chamomile or peppermint or anything not from this bush aren’t ‘tea’ but an herbal infusion, or as some call them, a ‘tisane’.

There are two main species of the plant that are used to make the tea we drink:

Camellia sinensis sinensis is native to China, with small leaves that grow up to about 5cm in length. The bushes grown up to about 5m, although they’re pruned back to around 1m, to be a good height for picking. There are some ancient bushes in the Yunnan Province of China said to be over 30m high and up to 1,200 years old! This variety is usually used to make green and white tea and occasionally some black and oolong teas.

Camellia sinensis assamica is native to the Assam region of Northern India. It has larger leaves that can grow up to between 15-35cm in length and is a tree, rather than a bush, that can grow up to 18m high. Assamica is ideal for black teas, creating a strong, malty flavour and is also used for making oolongs and pu-erh tea.

There is also a Cambodian variety, a subspecies of assamica, camellia sinensis lasio-calyx (also called cambodiensis or the ‘Java bush’) that isn’t generally used for commercial production, but for producing hybrids. Within the two main species, there are apparently 1,500 different varietals (a word usually used in the wine world, just meaning a specific variety), all with slightly different properties, creating a slightly different flavour when drunk.

Read about the different types of tea and how they’re made.