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Camellia Sinensis is the tree from which green tea, oolong tea and black tea are derived.

Camellia Sinensis is a medium sized tree native to China and grown for its tea bearing leaves. In this country we have numerous ornamental Camellia trees, grown for their glossy evergreen leaves and beautiful flowers, pink, red, and white. While garden Camellias are valued for their beauty and their evergreen architecture, Camellia Sinensis is grown to harvest its leaves for tea.

Typically, Camellia Sinensis will grow 30 feet but are pruned to approximately 6 feet for harvesting the leaves. While this tree originated in China, it spread to India, Japan, and later to Russia and Europe and was introduced to the new world in the late 17th century.

In some Camellia Sinensis trees only young leaves are harvested, terminal sprouts of 2 to 3 leaves are hand picked approximately every two weeks. To produce green tea they lay the leaves out and let them dry - while to produce black tea - the leaves are rolled up in a ball and left to ferment for a few hours and then dried out.