Were you aware that all tea comes from the same plant? Years ago when I first started to become interested in knowing about tea I was surprised to learn this fact. Of course there is an endless array of plants used to make hot beverages, but all tea comes from just one. Camellia sinensis is the botanical name for tea, an evergreen plant, indigenous to southeast Asia, whose leaves and leaf buds are used to produce tea.
There are 82 different species of Camellia, with 2 major varieties and almost 500 recognized cultivars. The most commonly recognized varieties of Camellia sinensis used for tea are C. sinensis var. sinensis (China bush or Chinese Tea) and C. sinensis var. assamica (Assam bush or Assam Tea).
