Camellia sinensis var. assamica in Yunnan?
Camellia sinensis var. assamica is the tea variety that is associated with Assam, as the name attests.
I have also seen allusions and suggestions that this is the same as the "Da Ye" (large leaf) variety that is used in Yunnan for pu-erh and some red/black teas. Some tea merchants certainly describe their Yunnan teas as being from assamica plants, and the Assam jungles are not too far from Yunnan so this seems credible.
Is there a reliable source that confirms that the assamica variety is the same as the variety from which pu-erh tea is made? Or is the reality more complex, with most commercially grown pu-erh tea being a hybrid of var. assamica and other varieties?
Wikipedia pages about tea are currently poorly referenced and I tend to disregard most of the claims on the pages related to tea. I am looking for references to scholarly books, pointers to trade literature, credible news sites, or quotes from acknowledged experts.
(Note that I am not interested in growing tea plants, this is purely a question about provenance of the foodstuff.)
Best Answer
I find nothing to indicate it's a different cultivar, and several sources saying that it's var. assamica. My favorite couple:
- An article (with photos!) on a tea merchant's site, from a guy who says he was actually in Yunnan for a year just for the tea.
- A toxicology paper, with Chinese authors (though not from Yunnan).
This doesn't rule out the possibility that there are subdivisions of assamica, leading to some tiny differences between the plants. But I can find no evidence of such subdivisions. Further, given the degree to which things vary simply based on the region they were grown in (due to climate and soil) and the effects of the subsequent processing, even if there are actual differences in the plants (beyond those caused by their environment), they're unlikely to be meaningful in terms of the tea you ultimately drink.
One caveat: this is all about what's most common. But people drink all kinds of things as tea, so it's possible that you'll find tea that was made from a different cultivar with the same processing as pu-erh, and it may well be labelled as pu-erh.
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Quick Answer about "Camellia sinensis var. assamica in Yunnan?"
(1) The camellia sinensis var. assamica however is commonly thought to have originated from the southern and western regions of the Yunnan Provence in China. Many South Yunnan assam teas have been hybridized with the camellia taliensis, this being the wild relative of the camellia sinensis.Where does Camellia sinensis Assamica grow?
The Assamica (ah-SAH-mee-ka) strain is native to the Assam region in Northern India. High humidity, generous rainfall, and warm temperatures allow this larger, more robust tea variety to thrive. The Assamica plant will grow to between 30 and 60 feet if left unattended and produce much larger (up to 8 inches) leaves.What is Camellia sinensis Assamica?
Tea plant or Camellia sinensis var. assmica is an evergreen, multi-stemmed shrub or tree that reaches up to 15 m tall. It is widely cultivated for its leaves which are used to make tea, one of the most common beverages worldwide. The fragrant flowers are made into tempura using the edible oil sourced from the seeds.What is the common name of Camellia sinensis?
Camellia sinensis (tea)Where did the tea plant Camellia sinensis originate from?
Origin and History of Tea Tea plants are native to East and South Asia and probably originated around the meeting points of the lands of north Burma and southwest China. The tea plant \u2013 C. sinensis has been cultivated by the Chinese people for more than 2700 years.Types of Tea Plants (Part-1): China Type (Camellia sinensis Var. Sinensis): Aroma of Darjeeling Tea.
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Answer 2
For completeness, here are some further references in addition to Jefromi's excellent pointers:
from a paper in the Pakistani Journal of Botany 43(1), pp. 281–291, 2011 (PDF): "C. sinensis var. assamica is the main taxa for commercial cultivation in Yunnan... Yunnan ‘Pu’er’ Tea [is] made from fresh shoot of C. sinensis var. assamica", referencing several sources published in Yunnan; the authors study how the DNA of 181 var. assamica plants from all over Yunnan are related;
from eFloras (Flora of China): "Camellia sinensis var. assamica is the source of Puer (??) tea which is a black (fermented) tea from Yunnan."
and one inconclusive reference:
- from Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew website: "Camellia sinensis var. sinensis is probably native to western Yunnan, while C. sinensis var. assamica is native to the warmer parts of Assam (India), Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and southern China."
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