Most of us think about tea once it reaches the cup. But the quality of tea is shaped much earlier — by the plant variety, the soil, the climate and the decisions growers make in the tea garden.
For our organic tea growers in India, those decisions aren’t just about the next harvest. A tea bush can remain productive for decades, meaning some of the decisions being made in the gardens today could still matter 50 years from now.
Here’s a look at how tea is grown, why different tea regions produce such different flavours, and how growers are adapting to a changing climate.
What is a tea cultivar?
A tea cultivar is a tea plant selected and propagated because it has particular characteristics growers want to preserve. Rather than growing a new plant from seed, growers can take cuttings from a strong mother plant with desirable traits.
They may be looking for things like:
-
Strong root systems
-
Good drought tolerance
-
Heat tolerance
-
Natural pest resistance
-
Reliable growth
-
Good cup quality and flavour
-
Suitability to a particular soil and climate
According to our growers, suitable mother plants can be observed for more than a decade before being selected. That’s because choosing the right tea plant isn’t just about what performs well this season. It’s about what will continue to perform well for many years to come.
Image 1: Land preparation work before the planting of the young tea cultivars and their growth in the first year of planting.
Tea growing is changing
Tea is highly influenced by its environment, and growers are seeing noticeable shifts in growing conditions. Rainfall can arrive in heavier bursts. Dry periods can last longer. Temperatures are changing, and pest cycles can shift with the weather.
Our growers in India have also experienced severe flash flooding after unusually intense rainfall, damaging young tea sections and displacing soil. For tea growers, climate change isn’t a distant issue. It directly affects how gardens are planted, managed and protected.
Planting tea for weather you can’t always predict
For organic tea growers, it's about working with the ecosystem they're farming within. One way growers are adapting is by planting climate-resilient tea cultivars.
Different cultivars bring different strengths. Some develop deeper roots that help them access water during dry periods. Others cope better with higher temperatures or periods of heavy rainfall. Some have natural characteristics that help protect them against pests.
But resilience isn’t the only consideration. Growers are also looking at flavour, quality, soil compatibility and how each cultivar performs in a particular region. The aim is to create tea gardens that are both resilient and capable of producing high-quality tea.
Tea plants are pretty clever at looking after themselves
Tea plants have their own natural defence systems. Some cultivars develop tiny microscopic hairs, known as trichomes or pubescence, across young leaves and buds. These can make it harder for certain insects to move across the leaf or feed on it. Others develop thicker or waxier leaves that provide another physical barrier.
Strong root systems can also help tea plants remain healthier through dry periods or other environmental stress. Different cultivars rely on different natural strengths, which is one reason growers carefully select the plants best suited to each tea garden.
Darjeeling Tea vs Assam Tea: Why Do They Taste Different?
Tea comes from Camellia sinensis, with two of its best-known varieties being Camellia sinensis var. sinensis and Camellia sinensis var. assamica. These varieties are closely associated with very different growing environments.
Bit of a mouthful, we know. An easier way to think about them?
Assamica is the tropical powerhouse. Sinensis is the high-altitude specialist.
Sinensis is well suited to the cooler mountain conditions you'll find in places like Darjeeling. The plants tend to grow more slowly, with smaller, narrower leaves that are generally lighter in colour. According to our growers, these leaves contain lower levels of chlorophyll, polyphenols and caffeine than assamica, contributing to the smoother, more delicate character associated with these teas.
Assamica, on the other hand, is indigenous to India and has been growing naturally in the Brahmaputra Valley for centuries. Its leaves are typically larger, broader and darker green, with higher levels of chlorophyll, polyphenols and caffeine. Those higher polyphenol levels contribute to the briskness and astringency Assam tea is known for.
Here's another interesting bit: caffeine isn't produced by the tea plant for our morning pick-me-up. It's part of the plant's own natural defence system, helping deter insects. In the warmer tropical conditions of Assam, where insect pressure is greater, assamica typically produces more caffeine than sinensis growing in the cooler hills.
Up in the mountains of Darjeeling...
Darjeeling isn't exactly an easy place to grow anything. Up in the mountains of Darjeeling, tea plants face a unique combination of high altitude, steep slopes, cooler temperatures, strong UV exposure and periods of frost.
Our growers have been progressively planting different specialised tea cultivars across their Darjeeling gardens, including Seeyok, Singell, Snowview and Samabeong. It's a bit like putting together a really good team. You don't necessarily want everyone to have exactly the same strengths.
Some cultivars have characteristics that help them cope with frost and intense UV. Others have particularly vigorous roots, helping them access water during drier periods. Some grow slowly and emerge from their winter dormancy later than others. And some are prized for helping produce the beautiful, complex flavours Darjeeling is famous for.
This growing environment also helps shape the character Darjeeling tea is known for — typically lighter, more aromatic and more delicate than teas grown in warmer regions.
Down in Assam, it's a completely different story
Head down from the mountains and the plants face a whole new set of challenges.
The tea gardens of Assam experience tropical heat, heavy monsoon rainfall, periods of waterlogging and seasonal dry conditions. So naturally, the plants that thrive there need different characteristics.
Growers can combine different cultivars across their gardens so that one might bring beautiful cup quality, another strong roots and another greater tolerance to drought or heavy rainfall. All while preserving those bold, brisk and malty characteristics Assam tea is loved for.
Image 2: Stages of growth of the young tea cultivars in year 2 and 3 of planting.
Tea growers are making decisions today that could still matter in 50 years
Tea isn’t an annual crop that gets replanted every year. A tea bush can remain productive for decades, which means the plants being selected and put into the ground today could still be part of that garden many years from now.
That makes decisions around cultivars, soil health, biodiversity and climate resilience particularly important. So choosing what to plant isn't just about next year's harvest. It's about what that tea garden will look like years from now.
Our growers describe planting tea as an investment in continuity — for the land, for the people who depend on it and for the generations who'll be drinking tea long after us.
And ultimately, that affects the tea we’ll all be drinking too.
Image 3: Stages of growth of the young tea cultivars in year 4 and 5 of planting.
The people behind our tea
Our growers have been working in Indian tea for generations and established the Tea Action Project as a non-profit organisation in 1995.
The project works alongside tea farmers and workers with a simple idea: that the tea trade can be a vehicle for positive social and environmental change. Its work extends beyond the tea plants themselves, with projects spanning health, education, sanitation, wildlife conservation, climate change and sustainability.
For us, it's another reminder that knowing where our tea comes from isn't only about what's in the cup. It's about the land it's grown on and the communities behind it too.
Why this matters at Planet Organic
By the time our tea reaches us here in Australia, there have already been years of work behind it. The variety of plant, where it was grown, how the garden was managed and the decisions made by the grower all play a part.
That’s why sourcing matters to us.
We choose Certified Organic ingredients from trusted suppliers, then carefully hand-pack our teas here in our Coolum Beach warehouse on the Sunshine Coast. Because good tea starts long before the kettle goes on. It starts with the plant, the land and the people growing it.
