ABSTRACT

The most widely consumed and the cheapest hot beverage in the world today is tea. Recent available statistics show that the total amount of world tea production reaches 2.5 million tons annually, and an average of 2 billion cups of tea are drunk every day (Yamanishi, 1991). Tea is made from the young leaves and unopened leaf buds of Camellia sinensis (L.) O, Kuntze, a species which includes some very distinct varieties. The cultivated varieties are classified into two main groups on the basis of foliar and growth characteristics: China tea, Camellia sinensis var. sinensis, and Assam tea or C. sinensis var. assamica. The former is a slow-growing dark tree with small, erect, comparatively narrow, dark green leaves which are resistant to cold; the latter is a rapidly growing, taller tree, with large drooping leaves and resistance to cold, but adapting well to tropical conditions.