Camellia sinensis is a species of evergreen shrubs or small trees in the
flowering plant family Theaceae whose leaves and leaf buds are used to
produce tea. Common names include "tea plant", "tea shrub", and "tea tree"
(not to be confused with Melaleuca alternifolia, the source of
tea tree oil, or Leptospermum scoparium, the New Zealand tea
tree).
White tea, yellow tea, green tea, oolong, dark tea (which includes
pu-erh tea) and black tea are all harvested from one of two major
varieties grown today, C. sinensis var. sinensis and
C. s. var. assamica, but are processed differently to
attain varying levels of oxidation. Kukicha (twig tea) is also harvested
from C. sinensis, but uses twigs and stems rather than leaves.
Coded by Alessandra Bammann