The tea bush did not originally come from the tropics, but grew in the subtropical mountain valleys of Southeast Asia. There it is grown up to a height of 2500m. Today it is grown in India, Sri Lanka, China, Africa, South America, Russia and many other countries.
 Tea is an evergreen tree up to 15 meters high. To make harvesting easier, it is kept in plantations as a shrub about 1.5 meters high. The leathery leaves are arranged alternately and more or less serrated depending on the variety. The 1 to 3cm large flowers have white petals and yellow stamens. The fruits of the tea bush are 3-compartment capsules with one seed each.