Black tea Black tea Black tea is a type of tea that is more oxidized than oolong, green, and white teas. Black tea is generally stronger in flavour than the less oxidized teas. All four types are made from leaves of the shrub (or small tree) "Camellia sinensis." Two principal varieties of the species are used – the small-leaved Chinese variety plant ("C. sinensis" var. "sinensis"), used for most other types of teas, and the large-leaved Assamese plant ("C. sinensis" var. "assamica"), which was traditionally mainly used for black tea, although in recent years some green and white teas have been produced.
Tea many genetic similarities with Indian Assam type tea (also "C. sinensis" var. "assamica"). Thus, Western Yunnan Assam tea and Indian Assam tea both may have originated from the same parent plant in the area where southwestern China, Indo-Burma, and Tibet meet. However, as the Indian Assam tea shares no haplotypes with Western Yunnan Assam tea, Indian Assam tea is likely to have originated from an independent domestication. Some Indian Assam tea appears to have hybridized with the species "Camellia pubicosta." Assuming a generation of 12 years, Chinese small leaf tea is estimated to have diverged from Assam tea around 22,000