Black tea remains inconclusive. 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
Camellia sinensis all harvested from one or the other, but are processed differently to attain varying levels of oxidation. Kukicha (twig tea) is also harvested from "Camellia sinensis", but uses twigs and stems rather than leaves. The name "Camellia" is taken from the Latinized name of Rev. Georg Kamel, SJ (1661–1706), a Moravian-born Jesuit lay brother, pharmacist, and missionary to the Philippines. Carl Linnaeus chose his name in 1753 for the genus to honor Kamel's contributions to botany (although Kamel did not discover or name this plant, or any "Camellia", and Linnaeus did not consider this plant a "Camellia" but a "Thea").