Camellia Sinensis

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General

There are broadly two well-identified varieties of tea: C. sinensis var. assamica (India) and C. sinensis var. sinensis (China). All the other varieties used for tea in the world can be considered sub-varietals of these two. There is a third variety: C. sinensis var. cambodi (Java) that is of no commercial interest (ie nobody makes tea out of it). In shape, the var. assamica has a wider leaf and grows into a full tree, unlike the var. sinensis which stays more bushlike. Commercial cultivars usually have a short name, like TV1 or STS108 or TTES12 but most of the popular ones have a longer name too, usually tied to their history, geography or the special characteristic.

Varietals

There are over 3000 different varietals of the tea plant under the two main branches. Often a particular varietal is used for more than one style of tea. The table below attempts to broadly classify a tea varietal as oolong, black, etc but keep in mind that is simply it's primary or original use. Any of the varietals can be process to be oolong, black, etc.

*Varietals / Cultivars*
Pinyin/Romanji	Kanji	English Name	Origin	Notes	Common teas	Pronunciation
Oolong (烏龍)
Chin Hsin	青心	Green Heart	Fujian area of China	Also spelled Chin Shin, etc popular taste but slow growing and not very resistant to disease	High mountain, Baozhong, Dong Ding and many other artisan Taiwanese teas	test.audio
Chin Hsin Da Pa	青心大冇		Fujian area of China	Not related to Chin Shin, grown at lower elevations generally	Bao Hai, restaurant tea	test.audio
Jin Xuan	金萱	Golden Lily	Taiwan	Also refered to as TTSE #12 or #27,	Often sold under the varietal name or as milk oolong	test.audio
Cui Yu	翠玉	Green Jade	Taiwan	Also referd to as TTSE #13 (台茶13號) and also #2029	teas produced at lower elevations	test.audio
Si Ji Chun	四季春	Four Season	Taiwan	very fast growing	many lower grade Taiwanese teas	test.audio
Ruan zhi	軟枝	Soft Twig/Stem	China			test.audio
Tie guan yin	铁观音	Iron Goddess of Mercy	Anxi, China	also produced with good success in Nantou county of Taiwan.		test.audio
Shui Xian	水仙	water sprite/fairy	China	Shui Hsien, narcissus	Very popular Wu Yi of the same name.	test.audio
Fo Shou	佛手	Buddha Hand	Yong Chun, China	Large leaves	usually sold under the varietal name	test.audio
Puerh
Da Ye	大冶	Big Broad Leaf	Yunnan, China	large, broad leaves with a unique flavor.	puerh of course!	test.audio
Chen Yun Hao			Yiwu mountain area of Yunnan			test.audio
Green
Bi Luo Chun	碧螺春	Green Snail Spring	Dong Ting Mountain, Jiang Su Province.	original name is 嚇煞人香 or "scarily fragrant"	Sold under the varietal name, also called Pi Lo Chun	test.audio
Jiangsu Bi Luo Chun	江苏碧螺春	Jiangsu Green Snail Spring	Jiang Su Province.	larger, less delicate and less fruity than their Dong Ting cousin	lower grade Bi Luo Chun	test.audio
Mei Zhan	梅詹		Fujian area of China			test.audio
Gokoh			Uji area Japan		Gyokuro	test.audio
Samidori			Uji area of Japan		Gyokuro, Sencha	test.audio
Komakage			Uji are of Japan		Gyokuro	test.audio
Sayamakaori			Uji are of Japan		Sencha	test.audio
Meiryoku			Uji are of Japan		Sencha	test.audio
White
Da Bai Hao	大白毫	Big White	Taimu Mountain region of Fujian province, China	The young buds have a unique silvery hair.	White tea	test.audio
Black

Oolong

Chin Hsin

Chin Hsin Da Pa

Jin Xuan

Cui Yu

Four Season

TGY

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tieguanyin

Puerh

Green

White

Black

History

Links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camellia_sinensis

http://www.teagenius.com/tea-production/tea-varietals.html

http://www.teageek.net/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

http://floatingleavestea.blogspot.com/2009/01/taiwanese-tea-varietals.html