Yunnan black tea varietal = Darjeeling varietal?

First the contradictions:

1. Some argue Assamica and Sinensis are two different varieties. Some argue they are the same. Some argue Sinensis is the original. Some argue Assamica is the original.

Could be true:

1. British smuggled Chinese tea varieties and planted in Darjeeling. They failed. They successfully used Assamica var in Darjeeling.

Jim

"Variety" is an extremely slippery word. I'm not sure what the author means by this without more context.

Also, it occurs to me that this may be a reference to the story that the tea bushes of Darjeeling descend from the Chinese seeds "stolen" in the 19th century. That's only a partial truth: lots of good DJ tea is grown from descendants of Assam plants.

/Lew

Let me share what I know.

The Britishers first tried to established Tea Plantations in Assam using seeds and plants imported from China, inspite of having knowledge of the indegenous Assamica variety growing in the area. The experiments were a failiure. Finally better sense prevailed and Assamica variety was propagated in Assam, Dooars and Terai, sucessfully. The rest is history.

However, ever in search of new areas for starting Tea Plantations, when the Britishers tried planting in higher altitudes of Darjeeling hills, Assamica variety failed to establish. They then experimented with the chinary variety, mostly brought in from the Yunnan province. It not only established very well in the hills, but gave Teas of astounding aroma and taste. Even better than the quality originally obtained from these plants in China. The rest is once again, history.

Tea Cheers! Jayesh S Pandya.

Are you saying that Darjeeling-grown tea is better than any tea grown in Yunnan?

Are you saying that all Darjeeling-grown tea is descended from the China seeds?

/Lew

Yes, to a Darjeeling tea devotee this is so. Vice versa for a Yunnan devotee. Likewise a Bangladeshi tea is better if that's what you prefer.

Yes, for all high elevation Darjeeling (and that's most of it) this is so, or at least was until the 1970s when some import of external tea germ plasm began for breeding purposes and clonal selection. However the vast majority of Darjeeling planting is derived from the original source - China seed - and some of those bushes are 100 years plus.

Nigel at Teacraft

I'm afraid I have no idea what the situation was before the '70s. And whether bushes with non-China genes are used more at lower DJ elevations I don't know, either. But I remember hearing quite clearly from the lips of a Darjeeling planter that some of the best DJ teas have an Assam heritage. This was four years ago in Darjeeling.

/Lew

Well, I guess it depends how you mean 'heritage'. I understand Obama has Irish heritage, be it ever so dilute. Remember that a good number of Darjeeling planters have Assam heritage themselves and likely will relish a trace in their bushes. It's for sure however that an assamica type bush will not withstand temperatures below about 36 deg F - and Darjeeling hills get considerably colder than that in the winter.

Nigel at Teacraft

That makes sense, but this planter is a Marwari.

So you're saying that the DJ clones that result from sexual crossing between China-seed and Assam bushes must have a vanishingly small proportion of Assam genome, right?

But wait a minute! It's been asserted in this thread that the original China seeds were from the same Yunnan cultivar used (now, not in the 19th century) for Yunnan black (Dian Hong) finished tea. But this cultivar (big leaf or Da Ye) is often labeled assamica. And a lot of the places where this cultivar is grown in Yunnan are considerably warmer than high altitudes in Darjeeling. This can't all be true, can it?

/Lew

Lew, tea taxonomy is less than straightforward. Rather than repeat what I have written before on Yunnan heritage, please check r.f.d.t archives Sept 29 2008 and Nov 6 2007 using search word "macrophylla". If these do not satisfy your questions then I am happy to continue discussion.

Nigel at Teacraft

Thanks very much for the pointer. So the Yunnan big leaf cultivar isn't C. sinensis var. assamica, it's C. sinensis var. sinensis f. macrophylla. (Is 'macrophylla' Greek for 'big leaf'? That would explain Greek "phyllo" pastry!)

Could you comment on the claim that the original China seeds were in fact from this cultivar?

/Lew

On Mar 25, 3:07 pm, Lewis Perin snipped-for-privacy@panix.com wrote: .

The recorded history of Darjeeling tea relates only that the original few seeds planted in 1841 were from China stock - planted at 2,134 metres - 6,829 feet elevation. Yunnan derived Camellia sinensis var sinensis f. macropylla could certainly survive the high mountain conditions - Kunming itself is at 1,900 metres and parts of Yunnan top

4,000 metres. However, in my albeit limited experience of Darjeeling I know of no big leaved bushes there - only small tough bushes bearing small China 'jat' leaf - and typical of the bushes grown in most of China, particularly the colder winter areas. Recognising that "absence of evidence is no evidence of absence" we must seek amplification from Darjeeling planters as to whether in some corner there are any large leaf bearing bushes.

Nigel at Teacraft

I wonder if there is not a confusion here. 'Big leaf' teas are made using large leaves from standard tea cultivars, not using the leaves of macrophylla, which is not adapted to tea-making. I will quote from information I recently received : "?? gualu is the Chinese name for 'wild tea' or Thea (camellia) sinensis L var. macrophylla; (a.k.a. ?? gualu), a closely related variety of the domestic tea plant. Gualu is notable for its large leaves. It grows in southwestern Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, Yunnan, northern Burma, and eastern India. Gualu has sometimes been substituted for tea and makes a muddy-colored drink that is bitter and astringent. Like tea, gualu is a stimulant that causes sleeplessness."

Brother Anthony