Known as Camellia sinensis, tea is an evergreen plant of the Camellia family. It has oval smooth, shiny pointed leaves which look similar to the privet hedge leaf found in British gardens.

In the garden the tea camellia is good for informal shrub borders, natural hedges and privacy screening. It also makes a good background for herb gardens and is a great plant to grow in a container. Fragrant white flowers to 3cm (1 ¼ ") in diameter appear in late autumn.
Highly ornamental and easy to grow.

This is the tea of commerce. The age-old Camellia sinensis plant is the source of all nonherbal teas. Manufacturers’ process C. sinensis leaves three different ways to produce the three major classes of teas known as green, black, and oolong. Today, about 75 percent of the tea produced worldwide is black; about 23 percent is green; and about 2 percent is oolong.

Young bushes are planted approximately 1.5 metres (60”) apart in rows with a distance of one metre between each row. The bush is trained into a fan shape, with a flat top, called a plucking table, about 1 x 1.5 metres (36-60”) in area and takes between three to five years to come to maturity. The speed of growth of the tea and frequency of plucking depend on the altitude at which the tea is grown, the rain and the heat. Only the tender young, top two leaves and a bud are plucked.

Culture:
Like all camellias, Camellia sinensis requires an acid, well-drained, moist soil; it does not grow well in excessive water. It prefers a wet summer and a cool but not very frosty dry winter and a pH in the range of 4.5 to 7.3
Camellia will grow in areas from sea-level up to altitudes as high as 2,500 metres above sea level and tolerates temperatures down to between -5 and -10°C (14-23°F), with an ideal day time temperature of 21-27°C (70-80°F), and night temperature of 58°C (14°F). USDA Zones 7-9
It is tolerant of heat and drought, better than most plants in the Theaceae family. They love full sunlight; however, growing them in light shade helps the leaves develop flavour.

Sowing:
Sow indoors at any time of year.

Preparation:
Seed should be pre-soaked for 24 hours in warm water and the hard covering around the micropyle should be filed down to leave a thin covering
Some growers prefer to crack the outer shell before planting, others remove the outer shell completely. Use a nutcracker or similar, not a hammer, do not harm the seed embryo inside. If this is done it is very important that your soil is well draining and not kept wet or you will quickly rot the embryo.

Planting:
Plant seed into a 7cm (3 ½”) pots using well drained compost. Sow twice as deep as the thickness of the seed, approx 3cm (1 ¼ ”)deep.
Always keep the soil moist, but well drained. Do not over water the seeds, they will rot.
Germination usually occurs between 28-35 days at 23-27°C (73-80°F)
Prick out the seedlings into larger pots when they are large enough to handle and grow them on in light shade in the house or greenhouse for at least their first winter.
Plant them out into their permanent positions when they are more than 15cm tall and give them some protection from winter cold for their first year or three outdoors.

Cultivation:
Use acid type fertilizer. Tea plants are sensitive to over-fertilization so use moderately. Prune for shaping. If unpruned it will grow to 120-180cm (4-6')

Notes:
10 kg of green shoots (approx 75-80% water) produce about 2.5 kg dried tea. Leaves that are slow in development always make a better flavoured product
Seedlings take 4 - 12 years before they produce seed. Seeds are large, over 1cm in diameter and weigh approx 0.5 grams. There are approx 500 seeds per kilo.

Other Common Names:
Camellia bohea, Camellia thea, Camellia theifera, Thea bohea, Thea viridis, Chai, An Hua Ch'A, Cay, Ch'A, Cha, Green Tea, Ming, Wu I Ch'A