Tea (Camellia Sinensis) : Origin and Distribution
Tea (Camellia Sinensis) : Origin and Distribution
Tea (Camellia Sinensis) : Origin and Distribution
Tea is the most common beverage consumed after water. It is brewed from the leaves of
Camellia sinensis (family: Theaceae). Different types of tea manufactured are: oolong, green,
black and Ilex tea depending on the post-harvest treatment and palatability of a particular region.
Being rich in natural antioxidants, tea is reported to be effective against colon, oesophageal, and
lung cancers, as well as urinary stone, dental caries, etc. Tea found to be anticariogenic, anti-
microbial, anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic, anti-oxidant can be used as an effective
preventive agent. Healthy Foods’ containing active scavengers of free radicals are very popular
nowadays. The chiefly chemical components of green tea include polyphenols, caffeine and
amino acids. Tea also contains flavonoids compounds reported to have anti-oxidant properties
having many beneficial effects. It is widely accepted that phenolic compounds of certain foods
have potential health benefits. Tea is linked to beneficial effects on human health with the
polyphenols as the responsible constituents. India is one of the largest tea-producing, exporting
and consuming country.
The legendary Chinese emperor Shen Nung is said to have discovered the stimulatory properties
of tea leaf extract around 2700 bc, and that at first it was used mainly as a medicine. The exact
geographical centre of the origin of tea has not been settled. It is believed to have originated
either in India or China or even both. Although there is no doubt that tea was being cultivated in
China as early as 2700 bc, it has never been found to grow there in a truly wild state.Early in the
nineteenth century (1823), claims were made regarding the occurrence of wild tea trees, Thea
assamica Mast. In the mountaineous regions of Assam and the adjoining lands, and it is generally
agreed to be the parent of all cultivated forms. It is assumed that Chinese travellers penetrated as
far as Assam and carried back the tea seeds to be grown in their own land. Although, wild tea
was growing in the Indian forests, India remained unaware of the vast treasure bestowed to her
by the nature until experimental cultivation of tea began between 1818 and 1834 from the seeds
re-imported from China. After the discovery of ‘wild tea’ in Assam and Manipur , commercial
plantations were established in 1834 with these local types.
According to another view, the large-leaved Indian varieties probably originated from wild
plants near the source of the Irrawaddy River in Assam or Northern Myanmar, whereas the
narrow-leaved Chinese types probably had a separate origin in China itself.
It was only in the fifth century ad that the habit of tea drinking became a social custom in China
from where tea was brought to Japan by Buddhist monks in the early eight century. However, it
did not spread to other Asian countries until the seventeenth century. The Turks introduced tea
from China to the West in the later part of the sixteenth century or the beginning of the
seventeenth century. When tea first reached England, the decoction was thrown away and the
boiled leaves were put between buttered toasts and eaten. The first tea house was inaugurated in
Exchange Alley, London, in 1657 and soon afterward, it gained popularity in the Western World
as an excellent non-alcoholic beverage. Today, England leads other countries in its imports and
is the greatest tea-drinking nation in the West. The English emigrants introduced the custom of
tea drinking into North America. The heavy Taxation imposed by the government led to a revolt
by the settlers who seized the newly arrived shipment of 342 chests of tea on 16 December 1773
and dumped it into the Boston harbor. This event known as the “Boston Tea party”, sparked off
the war of independence.
BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION:
C. sinensis, a member of theaceae family is an evergreen tree or shrub that attains a height of 10
- 15 m in the wild and 0.6 - 1.5 m when cultivated. The leaves are light green, short stalked,
coriaceous, alternate, lanceolate, serrate margin, glabrous or pubescent beneath, varying in
length from 5 - 30 cm and about 4 cm width. Mature leaves are bright green colored,
smooth and leathery while young leaves are pubescent. Flowers are white fragrant, 2.5 - 4
cm in diameter, found in solitary or in clusters of two or four. Flowers bear numerous
stamens with yellow anther and produce brownish red capsules. Fruit is a flattened, smooth,
rounded trigonous three celled capsule, seed solitary in each, size of a small nut.
Although the tea plant is most often referred to as being an evergreen shrub, when left in the wild
undisturbed it grows into a tree with a bowl-shaped canopy. The bark is rough and typically grey.
The tea plant branches with alternate elliptical leaves that are leathery in texture.
Flowers: Flower blossoms are white, are quite fragrant, grow on their own or they appear in
clusters of 2-4 together on short branchlets in the leaf axils. They grow up to 4cm in diametre
with five sepals and can have 5-9 petals. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and
female organs) and are pollinated by bees.
Leaves: The tea plant’s leaves are dark green with serrated edges, and a pointed tip. They are
somewhat oval in shape and alternate. Most leaves tend to have a hairy underside and they
usually grow to between 5 and 10 centimetres in length.
Height: This shrub can reach heights up to 9 metres (30’) although for cultivation purposes they
are pruned to about 1 -2 metre.
Habitat: The common tea plant prefers shaded areas at (typically) elevations of 2100 to 2700
metres and at forest edges. It grows in many parts of Asia, Eastern Africa and Argentina. It
prefers light sandy soils and medium loamy soils that are well-drained. The tea plant is also
cultivated in some areas of the U.S.
Edible Parts: Tea leaves can be eaten and in some cases they are recommended to be eaten as
opposed to making tea because the nutrient content is much higher when consumed as food. The
flowers are edible as well. A clear golden-yellow edible oil resembling sasanqua oil is obtained
from the seed (must be refined before ingested).
Although the tea plant is most often referred to as being an evergreen shrub, when left in the wild
undisturbed it grows into a tree with a bowl-shaped canopy. The bark is rough and typically grey.
The tea plant branches with alternate elliptical leaves that are leathery in texture.
Tea is exacting in its climatic requirements. The temperature may vary from 16 to 320C and
annual rainfall should be 125 to 150 cm, which is well distributed over 8-9 months in a year. The
atmospheric humidity should be always around 80% during most of the time. Very dry
atmosphere is not congenial for tea. It is grown in plains in North Eastern States but in South
India, it is grown in hill ranges from 600 to 2200 m above M.S.L. Tea is a calcifuge crop
requiring comparatively low amounts of calcium but high quantities of potassium and silicon.
They can be grown in lateritic, alluvial and peaty soils. Optimum pH range is 4.5 to 5.0 and soil
depth should be 1.0 to 1.5m.
Propagation
Tea can be propagated by seed and by cuttings. Seeds collected from the fruits of seed baries are
soaked in water and only heavy seeds, which sink, are alone used for sowing in beds.
Germination occurs in 20 to 30 days. At that stage they are carefully lifted and transplanted in
polythene sleeves. They will be ready for planting in 9 months.
Vegetative propagation
The site for the nursery can be selected in a flat land or gentle slope, near to a perennial water
source and easily accessible by road. It should have a good drainage and should be protected
from wind, frost and wild animals etc. approximately, 0.15 ha nursery area is required to produce
1.25 lakhs cuttings. Nursery area is to be provided with overhead shade by erecting concrete or
stone pillars at a spacing of 3x3m and spread with 6mm2 mesh double strand coirmat which
provides about 67% shade. The cuttings for rooting are collected from mother bushes, which are
well maintained near the nursery area. Such mother bushes are pruned well in advance to induce
juvenile shoots. These juvenile shoots are collected in the morning hours and 3cm long cutting
each with a healthy mother leaf and an active axillary bud is prepared. Cuttings from top tender
and bottom brown wood should be avoided. These cuttings are planted in polythene bags
(30cmx10cmx150 gauge), filled with growing medium (Jungle soil: river sand 3:1) in the bottom
and rooting medium (Red/subsoil sand 1:1) in the top 8-10cm. The soil used for rooting media
should have an optimum pH range of 4.8 to 5.0, if high, i.e., 5.1 to 5.5, or 5.6 to 6.0, it must be
drenched with 1 or 2% aluminum sulphate solution respectively at 1 litre per cubic foot of soil.
This treatment should follow with drenching of twice the volume of plain water to wash excess
aluminum sulphate. The cuttings are carefully planted at the centre of the bags in such a way that
the petiole should not touch the soil and then they are watered. These bags are then covered with
polythene sheets over the G.I. wire arhes and the sides are tugged well to preserve moisture
content. Callusing starts in 4-6 weeks and rooting occurs in 10 to 12 weeks. When 80% of the
cuttings have rooted, the tents are opened in stages and the overhead shade is gradually reduced
to harden the plants.
Planting
The land is cleared of the roots of the fallen trees and drains are taken at suitable intervals
depending upon the slope to conserve the soil. In the olden days, up and down system of planting
at 1.2x1.2m are followed. Presently, contour planting either in a single hedge or double hedge
system is followed.
The last method has many advantages over the first two viz., early and high yield, better soil
conservation, less weed growth in the hedge and efficient cultural practices. Planting season
normally coincides with June/July and September/October for SouthWest monsoon and North
East monsoon areas. Pits of 30x30x45cm size are dug and plants of 12-15 months old are planted
by removing the polythene sleeves. Immediate after planting, plants are staked to prevent wind
damage.
Immediately after planting, the soil surface around the plants should be mulched, usually
cutgrasses of gautemala are employed for this purpose. About 25 tonnes of grass is required to
mulch one hectare. Care must be taken to keep the mulch materials away from the collar region
last they may cause collar diseases. If there is a dry weather, mud tubes or etah tubes may be
buried 15cm deep near the plant in a slanting position and one litre of water per plant may be
poured or injected at weekly intervals. This subsoil irrigation helps to minimise the causality
besides encourages developing deeper roots.
Shade management:
Tea requires filtered shade and if it is exposed to direct sun, its growth is affected. Shade is hence
essential and beneficial to tea as
Weeds will be a problem in young and pruned fields. Manual weeding is never recommended in
tea lest more soil erosion and damage to surface roots and collar regions. Therefore, the
following chemical weed control is alone recommended in tea.
In the young tea, when it has established well, centering i.e. removing the growing point leaving
8 to 10 mature leaves from the bottom, is done to induce secondaries. When the secondaries
reach more than 60 cm, they are tipped at 50-55 cm height by removing 3 to 4 leaves and bud to
induce tertiaries. Therefore, plucking at mother leaf stage is continued for better frame
development. It takes nearly 18 to 20 months from planting to reach regular plucking field stage.
Pruning is normally done 4 to 6 years interval depending upon the altitude of the garden, nature
of the materials etc. the bushes marked for pruning should have adequate starch reserves in roots
otherwise the sprouting following pruning should have adequate starch reserves in roots
otherwise the sprouting following pruning will be less. This can be normally tested by the
common Iodine test and if the starch reserve is less, bushes are allowed to rest for 2 to 3 months.
Immediately after the rejuvenation or hard pruning, the cut ends are smeared with a paste made
of copper oxychloride and linseed oil (1:1). The prunings, consisting of only small twings and
leaves are buried in trenches of 30cm width and 45cm depth taken across the slope in alternate
rows. The pruned bushes are given washing with 10% lime solution using No. IV nozzle of
power sprayers in order to kill the epiphytic growth of moss and lichen so as to induce early and
even bud break. Lime washing also minimises sunscorch to the bush frame.
The buds from the pruned shoots grow in a steady succession without any cessation of growth.
These are known as a periodic shoots or primary shoots. These primary shoots should be induced
to produce flush shoots, otherwise known as periodic shoots by regular tipping operation.
Tipping is the removal of terminal portion of the shoot and it varies with jats and pruning height
as given below. Tipping height refers to the number of leaves that must be left above the pruned
cut while tipping in material refers to that portion of the terminal shoot, which must be tipped
off.
Tea responds to manuring and it has been estimated that to produce 100kg of made tea, tea plant
utilises on an average 10.2, 3.2 and 5.4kg of Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potash per ha. Manuring
in tea starts from nursery stage itself. Once they strike roots (after 4 months) 30g of soluble
mixtures (Ammonium phosphate (20:20) 35 parts, potassium sulphate and Magnesium sulphate
each 15 parts and zinc sulphate and Magnesium sulphate each 15 parts and zinc sulphate – 3
parts) is dissolved in 10 litres of water and is applied with rosecan for about 900 plants. This
must be repeated at 15 days intervals.
Harvesting or Plucking
Plucking consists of harvesting 2 to 3 leaves and a bud. It is the most labour intensive operation
in a tea industry and also decides the yield and quality of made tea. Normally, a pluckable shoot
takes 60 to 90 days for harvesting since its sprouting from the axillary buds. When the shoot is
plucked upto mother leaf, it is known as light plucking and if it is plucked below mother leaf, it
is called hard plucking. It is essential to add one tier of active maintenance foliage to the bush
every year. This is done by mother leaf plucking during January to March. During the rest of the
period level plucking can be carried out.
Consequent to plucking, bush height increases every year in the order of 10cm over tipping
height in the first year, 7.5cm, 7.5cm, 5cm and 5cm over the previous year height in the second,
third, fourth and fifth year respectively.
TEA PROCESSING:
First excess moisture is removed from tea leaves, this process is called withering. The leaves are
laid out on a wire mesh and left to dry for 18-20 hours. This is the easiest method or "natural
withering". Withered tea is ready to be curled. In a roller drum tea is continuously pressed and
rotated. The purpose of this operation is to deform cells of tea leaves at molecular level to release
catechin compounds and enzymes that later will give to tea its unique flavor. Curled parts of tea
leaves are then fed into a special machine that simultaneously crushes and sifts them – thus tea is
cooled and ventilated. Then comes one of the most important steps called fermentation. Tea is
laid out on tables or grids in the area with controlled temperature and oxygen supply. This
process forms flavor and aroma of tea. Afterwards tea is dried so that it can preserve its quality
during long-term storage: tea is put into a drying chamber with very hot air and then is rapidly
cooled. Dry tea is sorted on vibrating sieves that have meshes of different diameters that separate
tea leaves of uniform shape and size. Then tea is packed and sent to tea auctions. There are
around ten major tea auctions in the world. The largest are in Cochin and Calcutta (India),
Colombo (Sri Lanka), Jakarta (Indonesia), Mombasa (Kenya), Chittagong (Bangladesh).
CHEMICAL COMPOSTION:
There are approximately 600 traces of aroma compounds in tea leaves, some of which are lost
and some that are released during the manufacturing process. Once plucked, tea leaves begin to
wither, their cell walls begin to break down and chemical compounds begin to form new
chemical compounds, not all of which are water soluble. Carbohydrates, which add to the
sweetness of tea, help to fuel the enzymatic reactions that take place during oxidation and are
also responsible for the creation of polyphenols in young tea leaves. The term polyphenol refers
to a categorization of compounds composed of many phenolic groups – up to 30,000. These
compounds are plant metabolites produced as a defense against insects and other animals; such
as the alkaloid caffeine and two similar compounds: theobromine and theophylline, which add to
the bitterness of tea. Alkaloid levels depend on the varietal and cultivar of camellia sinensis
used, along with climate, geology, geography, age of the leaves and the propagation method
used. The bud and first leaf have the highest concentration of polyphenols, 2-3 times more
caffeine, and polyphenol levels decrease in each leaf moving down the plant. One compound,
flavanoids (also known as tannins) are responsible for the health claims of tea. The major
flavanols in tea are: catechin (C), epicatechin (EC), epicatechin gallate (ECG), gallocatechin
(GC), epigallocatechin (EGC), and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), EGCG is the most active of
these catechins and is often the subject of studies regarding tea antioxidants especially as it
relates to cancer research.
The amino acid L-theanine found in tea has been shown to reduce cognitive stress and used in
conjunction with caffeine, show a possible improvement in memory and learning tasks. The
volatile substances in tea leaves are largely responsible for a tea’s flavor and aroma, and many
are derived from the actual manufacturing process itself