PH1
One of the first bred cultivars released by Vietnam’s tea research station and widely planted for the export black-tea industry. The prefix records the research station rather than a person or a place of origin, which is the usual convention where a national programme rather than an estate did the selecting.
Where it sits in the botany
PH1 is recorded under Camellia sinensis var. assamica, the variety group one level above cultivar. It is associated with Vietnam, which is where it was selected or is most widely planted rather than the only place it grows.
Registration code: PH1. A breeding or registration code identifies the selection in an institutional register and is often the name a grower uses when the trade name is not.
Also transliterated as: ph1, ph-1.
Where it came from
Selected at Vietnam’s national tea research station from large-leaf material and released for commercial planting, principally for black tea.
How firm this is: Inferred rather than taken from a primary breeding or registration record. The designation and institute are consistently reported; the release year and parentage were not verified against a primary source.
What the plant is like
Vigorous and high-yielding large-leaf material, selected for volume in an industry that exports predominantly into commodity markets. Its dominance is one reason Vietnamese tea has struggled to be sold on plant character.
What it is usually made into
The categories this cultivar is typically processed into. It is a statement about common practice, not a limit — processing decides the category, and a cultivar can be taken down more than one route.
- Black tea — Tea taken deliberately through full enzymatic oxidation, giving the dark leaf, amber-to-red liquor and malty or brisk character most Western drinkers think of as simply 'tea'.
Other cultivars in Camellia sinensis var. assamica
- Assam indigenous jat
- Benifuji
- Benihikari
- Benihomare
- Benikaori
- Betjan
- Camellia sinensis var. assamica
- East African seedling tea
- Fengqing Da Ye
- GMB 7
- Kiara 8
- Lingyun Baihao
- Manipuri jat
- Menghai Da Ye
- Mengku Da Ye
- Miang landrace
- Shan Tuyết
- Sri Lankan seedling tea
- Tai Cha No. 8
- TRFK 301/4
- TRFK 303/577
- TRFK 306/1
- TRFK 31/8
- TRFK 6/8
- TV1
- TV23
- TV25
- Yinghong No. 9
- Yunkang 10
- Yunkang 14
- Yunnan Da Ye Zhong
- Zi Juan
- Zi Ya
Sources
- TeaHQ editorial synthesis — TeaHQ
This page is TeaHQ’s own synthesis throughout. No breeding register or institutional record stands behind the account above, which is why the origin note carries its confidence in the open rather than reading as a citation.