Do you have a favorite apple? Personally, I’m a Honeycrisp gal. Golden Delicious and Granny Smith are pretty good too, but, beyond that, I’m ambivalent (unless it’s Red Delicious. Those things can go straight to hell). That said, my experience is limited- there are so many different apples grown across the globe. I’m sure there’s some sitting on shelves in countries I’ve never visited that can topple Honeycrisp in one bite. 

Considering that Malus domestica, the common apple tree, is one species of plant, how do we get so many different kinds of apples? The first factor is the apple tree’s terroir, or the environmental conditions where it’s grown. The second and most well-known factor is the apple’s cultivar. Cultivars are variations of the original plant, selectively bred for taste, hardiness, or appearance. We know most apples by their cultivar name; they’re your Honeycrisps and your Granny Smiths. Both of these factors are essential to the flavor and price of what apples are stocked in your supermarket!

So what’s the deal with all that apple talk? Easy- everything I just told you about apples also applies to tea. Every tea you drink, every green, black, or oolong, is influenced by its terroir, and there are hundreds of tea cultivars, each with distinct flavor profiles. Like Malus domestica, the tea tree is one plant with a lot of variation across the globe. 

Saying Camellia sinensis is all one plant is a bit of an oversimplification. There are variations of the plant that occurred naturally before it was cultivated by humans. The two main variants used today, Camellia sinensis var. sinensis and Camellia sinensis var. assamica, are pretty different plants in terms of how they are grown and their overall flavor profiles. Var. sinensis, considered the original, is happy to grow in subtropical to temperate regions if great care is taken to keep them from frost. Some of the most well-known teas made with var. sinensis grow on mountaintops where the winters are cold and the plant goes dormant. Var. assamica, with its broader, darker leaves prefers subtropical to tropical regions, doing best in the lowlands. Both make all the kinds of teas mentioned in the previous post (missed it? Check out From Leaf to Cup Part 1), though var. assamica has a flavor profile that lends itself to black teas and oolongs, while var. sinensis is prized for the taste it brings to greens and whites. 

No matter what variant of Camellia sinensis is grown, there are some basic requirements for the plant to grow. The first is loose, well-draining soil. Whether a clay-rich soil in the lowlands or a loose-soil mountaintop, the water shouldn’t overstay its welcome. The next is rain, as the plant prefers not to have a dry season lasting more than a few months- the Yunnan province in China, where the tea plant originates, sees 40-80 inches of rainfall a year. The last is sun: if the day gets too short or the clouds hang out too long, the tea plant will go into hibernation.

With all these requirements, it may sound strange that the tea plant is grown across several continents. Not all climates are ideal for the plant’s growth; surprisingly, sub-par growing conditions are good for the tea market. Stressed-out tea plants make very different flavors, so changing one or two of the plant’s ideal growing conditions ends up making very different tasting teas. What kind of stressors the plant endures during growth gives us different terroirs.

The two main stressors used between terroirs are climate and altitude. They often go hand-in-hand as the higher you climb, the more the climate changes. As the air gets colder, the plant stunts its growth, often going into hibernation. Slow growth and hibernation disturb the chloroplasts (the cells in the plant that convert sun into energy), forcing the plant to store what energy it has to keep it alive until more prime conditions arise. This sends all the taste-good tea chemicals into concentrated areas, so when the conditions are better in the springtime, the first buds that shoot out are jam-packed with Yummy Tea Chemicals (that’s the official term). The first flush of the spring is often prized for its unique and strong flavors- in the past, those first flushes were reserved for royalty for that reason!

A tea’s terroir and cultivar often go hand-in-hand. Cultivars often depend on the terroir as they are often bred and grown to thrive in unideal environments. For instance, the Yabukita cultivar, which makes up over two-thirds of Japanese tea production, was bred to withstand colder and harsher weather with the bonus of high yield and intense flavors (it gets those in part from being able to withstand the weather!). This is perfect for the main tea-producing prefecture in Japan, Shizuoka, as it is right along the Pacific coast where weather and storms are more extreme. The problem with growing only one cultivar, though, is that when disease or pests invade the farms, all the plants are equally vulnerable. Yabukita is especially susceptible to disease and if one plant gets sick, the whole farm can get sick. 

China, the birthplace of tea, is known for its plentiful cultivars. With so many different climates in one country, and so many tea farms and techniques handed down through generations, certain cultivars have stood the test of time. If you’ve ever tried the oolong Iron Goddess of Mercy (Tieguanyin), it is its own unique cultivar grown in the Fujian province. The same goes for Dragonwell (Longjing), where the original cultivar is said to have been produced over a thousand years ago! That said, original cultivars like these are pricey and hard to get- many other cultivars are used (like Longjin #43, a relatively recent cultivar and much more common in mass production) to get an equivalent taste at a lower price point. Chances are, if you’ve ever bought Iron Goddess of Mercy or Dragonwell, you’ve probably bought these equivalents from more common cultivars. 

Terroirs, cultivars, and even the varieties of sinensis and assamica all bring different flavors and aromas to your cup. These changes may be more subtle than the obvious processing differences which decide whether you’re drinking a smokey black breakfast tea or a smooth floral white tea. No matter what tea you drink, it’s fun to wonder where it came from and what conditions it grew in. Was this oolong stressed out among the rocky terrain on a mountain in China? Was this matcha grown in the protective hills of the Kyoto prefecture, giving it its smooth taste? Next time you buy tea, check where it came from. It may give you hints about its flavor and aroma before you open the tin, much like how the mottled green-reds of Honeycrisp let me know I’m in for a treat.

If you'd like to learn more about tea production, check out the resources I used below:
Green Tea Merchant Blog, Yabukita Cultivar
Kevin Gascoyne, Francois Marchand, Jasmin Desharnais and Hugo Americi, Tea: History, Terroirs, Varieties, First Edition (While the first edition is no longer for sale, updated editions may be found at your local bookstore or places like Barnes & Noble)