What's in the bush?

A cultivar is a cultivated variety of a plant, selected because it reliably produces something desirable — better flavor, higher yield, resistance to cold or disease — and then propagated to preserve those traits. In tea, cultivar selection is the difference between a field that performs predictably and one that surprises you every season. In Darjeeling, the cultivar names almost always refer to the estate where the plant was first identified.

IThe two parent plants

All tea comes from Camellia sinensis, but the species has two distinct varieties that produce very different results.

The British planted China sinensis seeds in Darjeeling from 1841, because the variety could handle the altitude and cold. Over a century of cultivation, those plants crossed with Assam varieties — deliberately and by accident. The result: virtually every major Darjeeling cultivar today is a hybrid of the two.

IIThe famous cultivars of Darjeeling

The Tea Research Association has registered around 30 cultivars suited to Darjeeling. A handful dominate the conversation.

IIIWhy single-cultivar tea is rare here

Most Darjeeling tea — from estates and small farmers alike — is not from a single cultivar. The reason is straightforward: most gardens were planted from seed, not cuttings. A seed-planted field contains dozens of genetically distinct plants growing side by side. Every plant is its own individual. The tea made from that field is a blend before it ever enters the factory — by design and by history.

Access to clonal material is also a structural barrier. Establishing a plot of AV2 or B157 requires nursery cuttings, infrastructure to root and grow them, and years before the plot produces anything sellable. Most small farmers lack this access — the mixed fields they work are passed down, not chosen.

For this reason, genuinely single-cultivar teas from Darjeeling are exceptionally rare. When they exist, they offer a glimpse into the pure expression of one plant — reflecting not only the cultivar itself, but the precision, patience and access required to grow it separately in a region historically defined by diversity.