These adorable white flowers of about 2 cm in diameter caught my eye. They're camellia sinensis with common names including "tea plant" at the Koishikawa Botanical Garden in Tokyo. The tea plant is in the camellia genus. The fact that the camellia flower can be that small surprised me.
"Tea" always means green tea for me because my late maternal grandma ran a Japanese green tea shop by herself after losing her husband (i.e., my grandad), and I often helped her package tea leaves on summer and winter vacation. So, I've seen a variety of green tea leaves (yes, there are many types of green tea leaves from very expensive one, such as gyokuro or jade dew, to standard sencha green tea), but I've never seen tea plant trees or flowers.
Because of a decrease in green tea drinking in Japan, the store sales declined and her youngest daughter (i.e., my aunt) closed the business. Ironically, Grandma didn't drink (and might not like) green tea so much. She had coffee and cheese every morning for breakfast, and I also have café au lait and cheese every morning these days...😆
The garden, about 40 acres in Central Tokyo, was opened by the Tokugawa shogunate in the 17th century to grow medicinal herbs. In 1877, after the Meiji Restoration, it became a part of Tokyo Imperial University and currently the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Science.
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| Camellia sinensis 茶の木 |
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| Tea plant アッサムチャ |
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小石川植物園の茶の木（アッサムチャ）です。最初「ちっちゃい花だな、何だろう」と近づくと「アッサムチャ」という札が目に入り、家でググったら「茶の木」と出てくるではありませんか。これ、お茶の木なんですね。亡き祖母は茶舗を経営しており、私も子供の頃、袋詰めを手伝ったものです。なので茶葉はよく見ていましたがお茶の花や木を見るの初めて。しかもお茶の木って椿（camellia）の仲間なんですね。
茶離れが進み、お店は結局畳みました。ちなみに祖母の朝食は毎日コーヒーとチーズ。そして私の今の朝食もカフェオレとチーズです😆。
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