ABSTRACT
Tea, the most widely consumed, nonalcoholic drink, is manufactured from the leaves of tea plant Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze. Camellia sinensis belongs to the family Theaceae. It originated in central China, somewhere in the Mongolian plateau (Weatherstone 1992) and is now cultivated in more than 30 countries worldwide. Tea cultivation plays an important role in the economies of China, India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Japan, Kenya, Turkey, and Argentina.
