History of the Tea Tree in China

The oldest tea tree growing in this region is about 1,700 years old. It has been proven that the vegetation of Yunnan Province was formed millions of years ago, before the Ice Age. Natural disasters, including a sharp cooling of the climate, due to the protection of the mountain ranges, did not affect the flora of this part of the world too much. Scientists find many species in the mountains that are considered extinct and are found only in the form of fossils. Tea trees, preserved here in their original form, are one of these ancient plant species.

There is another convincing proof that Yunnan province and all its tea territories are a natural reserve of tea. According to biological classification, tea is called Chinese camellia. In total, there are currently about 400 agrotypes of Chinese camellia, more than half of which (260) grow in Yunnan.

Various types of tea are grown here. The most common product is grown on an industrial scale, on young bushes that are actively exploited.

Elite Chinese tea is collected from old trees growing in natural conditions, and in quantitative terms it makes up thousandths of the total tea production. But such a product is valued incomparably higher.

The peculiarity of tea trees is that they are propagated not by cuttings, but by seeds. In this case, the new plant receives its own characteristics, and does not completely repeat the genotype of the parent. As a result, trees in different regions differ significantly, and the characteristics of the harvest largely depend on the soil, climate, amount of moisture and sun. If you transplant the plants to another area, they will either die, or the tea leaf will differ significantly in taste and effect.