Tea Cultivation

According to an old Chinese saying, "superior tea comes from high mountains". The altitude and mountain mists help shield against too much sunlight and provide the proper temperature and humidity to allow the leaves to develop slowly and remain tender. As with wine, the quality and taste of a particular tea is influenced by both the environment (soil, climate, and altitude) and the tea maker (who decides when and how the leaf is plucked and how it is processed).

Tea grows mainly between the tropic of Cancer and Capricorn, requiring up to 1000-1250mm of rain per year, as well as a temperature ideally between 10 to 30 °C. It will grow from sea level up to 2400 metres.

The tea garden (tea estate) is where the flavor potential of the tea will be generated, and so great care and attention is taken to insure that the best possible growing conditions are created. This means in some cases planting trees to generate shade, or planting wind breaks, to prevent damage from strong winds.

Plants are placed in rows some approximately one meter apart. The bushes must be pruned every four to five years in order to rejuvenate the bush and keeping it at a convenient height for the pluckers to pick the tea from. This is known as the "Plucking Table".

The tea plant is an evergreen of the Camellia family that is native to China, Tibet and northern India . There are two main varieties of the tea plant. The small leaf variety, known as Camellia sinensis, thrives in the cool, high mountain regions of central China and Japan. The broad leaf variety, known as Camellia assamica, grows best in the moist, tropical climates found in Northeast India and the Szechuan and Yunnan provinces of China. The plant produces dark green, shiny leaves and small, white blossoms.