Assam tea The second flush, harvested later, is the more prized "tippy tea", named thus for the gold tips that appear on the leaves. This second flush, tippy tea, is sweeter and more full-bodied and is generally considered superior to the first flush tea. The leaves of the Assam tea bush are dark green and glossy and fairly wide compared to those of the Chinese tea plant. The bush produces delicate white blossoms. Assam tea Assam tea is a black tea named after the region of its production, Assam, in India. Assam tea is manufactured specifically from the plant "Camellia sinensis" var.
History of tea and Travels", containing the first European reference to tea, which he calls "Chai Catai"; his accounts were based on second-hand reports. Portuguese priests and merchants in the 16th century made their first contact with tea in China, at which time it was termed "chá". The first Portuguese ships reached China in 1516, and in 1560 Portuguese missionary Gaspar da Cruz published the first Portuguese account of Chinese tea; in 1565 Italian missionary Louis Almeida published the first European account of tea in Japan. Commercial production of tea was first introduced into India by the British, in an attempt to break