The Tea Plant and Its Cultivation

The tea plant is an evergreen shrub native to Southeast Asia. It is cultivated widely in warm regions around the world. Leading tea producers are India, China, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Turkey, Indonesia, and Georgia.

The tea plant grows to a height of 3 to 50 feet (90 cm to 15 m), but cultivated plants are kept pruned to a height of 20 to 80 inches (50 to 200 cm) for convenience in harvesting. The slender, glossy green leaves are two to five inches (5 to 13 cm) long and have serrated edges. They are smooth-surfaced and somewhat leathery. The plant has fragrant pale pink or cream-colored flowers and round, nutlike fruit.

The tea plant grows best in well-drained loamy soils in moist, hot climates. However, it is hardy and adaptable and can be cultivated in a wide variety of soils at elevations ranging from sea level to 8,000 feet (2,400 m).

Constant pruning keeps the shrubs at the desired height, makes them live longer, and stimulates production of new shoots, from which the crop is taken. The first harvest is made when the shrubs are three to five years old, and thereafter the leaves are plucked several times a year. In hot regions, plants put out new shoots the year around in quantities sufficient for harvesting every two weeks. In cooler regions, crops are plucked only three or four times a year. It takes about four pounds of leaves to make one pound of finished tea. Tea plants yield for 25 to 50 years.