Demanding tea

    Despite now being present virtually all over the world, tea is a plant with very specific requirements and a long history. Its natural distribution area originally covered China, Tibet and northern India. It is there that the two main varieties of the tea bush developed: Camellia sinensis, that is the Chinese tea with small leaves, and Camellia assamica, that is the Assam variety with broad leaves. Apart from them, there are many hybrids adapted to various climate conditions and cultivation altitudes.

    Tea grows best in the belt between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. To grow properly, it needs an annual precipitation of 1000-1250 mm, temperatures ranging from 10 to 30 degrees C and the right altitude, even up to 2400 m above sea level. Chinese tea tolerates colder climates and is mostly cultivated in the high-mountain regions in central China and Japan. The Assam tea, in turn, prefers the humid tropical conditions in the north-east India and the Chinese provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan.

    Today, the largest tea producers are still from the Asian countries, such as India, China, Japan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Taiwan, Vietnam and Turkey. Some cultivation areas may also be found in Africa, South America, north Australia (Queensland) and Oceania, e.g. in Papua-New Guinea and Fiji. Few people know that tea bushes also grow in Georgia, at the plantations near Batumi.

    A tea plantation is the place where the taste is born. The bushes often require protection from excessive sunlight, so shade-casting trees are planted among them. Protection from wind is equally important, particularly on the open plains of Assam. Tea is planted in regular rows, usually a metre apart. Every four or five years the bushes are pruned to rejuvenate them and keep them at the height convenient for the pickers. One bush may yield good-quality tea for as long as 50-70 years, although after about half a century the yields start to gradually fall. Then the old plants are replaced with young ones that have been previously prepared in nurseries.

    The frequency of harvesting depends on the climate; while in season, the leaves may be picked every week or every two weeks. The tea harvest is extremely labour intensive and requires experience: in order to pick one kilogram of unprocessed tea, two to three thousand leaves are needed. At present, mechanical harvesting is used on many plantations, but the most precious teas are still made of leaves picked manually. Then the so-called precise harvest is applied: only the two youngest leaves and the bud are plucked. Traditionally, this is mostly done by women. It is believed that they have nimble-enough fingers to gently pluck the most precious, highest-located leaves without damaging their structure. From this small gesture tea begins its journey from the bush to the cup.