Pu'er tea the "ripe" Shou Chá. All types of pu'er tea are created from "máochá" (毛茶), a mostly unoxidized green tea processed from "Camellia sinensis" var. "assamica", which is the large leaf type of Chinese tea found in the mountains of southern and western Yunnan (in contrast to the small leaf type of tea used for typical green, oolong, black, and yellow teas found in the other parts of China). Maocha can be sold directly to market as loose leaf tea, compressed to produce "raw" "shēngchá", naturally aged and matured for several years before being compressed to also produce "raw" "shēngchá" or
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").