Camellia sinensis var. assamica Seeds | Assam Tea
LATIN NAME: Camellia sinensis var. Assamica
COMMON NAME: Assam Tea, Taxonomic Form
Plant Profile
Assam Tea is the broad-leaved, tree-like form of the tea plant, native to the Yunnan plateau and the forests of upper Myanmar and Assam. Where the Chinese tea plant makes a small, hardy shrub with narrow leaves, this variety makes a small tree with large, glossy leaves and a single pale trunk, and it is the source of most black tea.
In the wild it grows in humid mountain forest under a broken canopy, and in cultivation it is kept as a waist-high bush by the plucking round. Out of the plucking field it becomes a handsome evergreen tree of eight metres with white, sweetly scented flowers among the leaves in autumn. The flowers hang in pairs beneath the leaves rather than standing above them, a detail that separates the tea plant from the showy ornamental camellias at a glance.
Science & Biotechnology
Tea is the most consumed pharmacological preparation on earth. Its catechins, above all epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), together with caffeine and the calming amino acid L-theanine account for its studied effects: modest attention gains from the caffeine-theanine pairing and cardiometabolic associations in large cohort studies. The cautionary note concerns concentrated extracts, not the cup, and EFSA has flagged EGCG doses above roughly 800 mg a day from supplements as a liver risk, while brewed tea carries no such concern.
Whether the Assam and Chinese forms are varieties or subspecies is still argued, and genetic work keeps refining the picture; the practical fact is that the Assam form is less cold-hardy, larger-leaved and the basis of the strong black teas of India.
Uses & Benefits
Grown from seed it is a long-term project: a few years to the first plucking, then a bush that outlives its planter. Young leaves are processed green, black or oolong by oxidation, and a single garden plant supplies a household’s daily tea once it is established.
The genus shares its polyphenol chemistry with the ornamental camellias, and tea seed oil is a fine cooking oil in East Asia; the plant itself wants acid soil, shade cloth in youth and humid air. A three-plant clump gives roughly a thousand pluckings a year once in bearing, enough for a small household’s green tea with a surplus for black.
Growing from Seed
Tea seed loses viability quickly and is best sown fresh, an inch deep in acid, humus-rich compost kept at 20 to 25 °C.
Germination is slow and uneven, spreading over months; grow the seedlings in bright, filtered light and high humidity, and never let the compost dry out.
Pot on as the roots fill the container, pinch the young plants to make a bush, and keep them out of frost and drying wind; the Assam form wants warmer winters than its Chinese cousin. Rainwater is worth collecting for it, since lime in tap water shows up as yellowed leaf tips over a season. Flushing comes in waves through the growing season, and a light pinch after each wave keeps the plucking table flat and the bush compact.
Our Take
The tree form of tea, larger-leaved and less hardy than the Chinese plant, and the parent of most black tea. Grow it for the long haul.
Related Reading
Gardeners who grow Assam Tea often pair it with these related subjects: