Camellia Sinensis - What Exactly Is It?

Did you know that all tea comes from the same plant? Green, Black, Oolong, Herbal; all originate from the wondrous Camellia Sinensis plant. 

You are now probably thinking, well how is my green tea GREEN? Or how is my tea so black if it comes from the same plant as a green or herbal blend? It’s all about how the Camellia Sinensis is processed, or oxidised in tea-related terms. It can also be to do with the variety of Camellia Sinensis used. There are two variations of the Sinensis plant; there is one that is predominantly found in China and is used to make green and white teas and another strain found in India, usually used for black tea – however, whatever the strain, the same process occurs with a slight variation on oxidisation.

It all starts at the harvesting stage; the best tea leaves are handpicked to ensure quality is at its highest – it's crucial to control quality from the onset. Here at BRUU, we have the most fabulous tea-pickers in the land, ensuring that every cup of tea is blended to perfection!

The next stages involve the withering and oxidisation of the leaves that have been picked. The leaves are left to wither in fresh air until they have lost over half of their weight in moisture! The enzymes in the leaves react with the oxygen and oxidisation can then occur. This is when the tea is placed in a temperature-controlled room with intense humidity enabling the oxidisation process to take place.

The fourth step is the rolling phase; once the leaves have reached the desired level of oxidisation, the tea is then rolled into the curls we see in our blends, obviously, these wonderful curls do not end up in tea bags as they would take up too much room and are therefore crushed to the desired size. Our tea’s final stage is drying – we like to dry our tea in sunlight, ensuring more flavour. BRUU make sure that our members are always tasting the best tasting tea around. So, there we go - a nice bit of tea knowledge for your brain to absorb!