TRFK 6/8
One of the most widely planted clones in Kenya and therefore one of the most widely planted tea plants in the world, given that Kenya is among the largest exporters. The code is a selection reference rather than a name: the first number identifies the trial or seed source and the second the individual selection within it, which is why Kenyan clone codes carry a slash and Japanese cultivars carry poetry.
Where it sits in the botany
TRFK 6/8 is recorded under Camellia sinensis var. assamica, the variety group one level above cultivar. It is associated with Kenya, which is where it was selected or is most widely planted rather than the only place it grows.
Registration code: TRFK 6/8. 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: trfk 6/8, trfk 6-8.
Where it came from
Selected by Kenya’s tea research organisation from seedling populations of Assam-derived material and distributed to estates and smallholders through the extension system.
How firm this is: Inferred rather than taken from a primary breeding or registration record. The designation and the institute are genuine; the selection year, parent population and the specific traits recorded for it were not verified against a primary source.
What the plant is like
Vigorous large-leaf material suited to Kenya’s equatorial high-altitude conditions and to CTC manufacture. Kenya plucks all year, so the traits that matter are steady productivity and resilience rather than an early flush.
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'.
Teas in the catalogue made from TRFK 6/8
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
- PH1
- Shan Tuyết
- Sri Lankan seedling tea
- Tai Cha No. 8
- TRFK 301/4
- TRFK 303/577
- TRFK 306/1
- TRFK 31/8
- TV1
- TV23
- TV25
- Yinghong No. 9
- Yunkang 10
- Yunkang 14
- Yunnan Da Ye Zhong
- Zi Juan
- Zi Ya
Guides covering this cultivar
- Reading a cultivar code: TV1, TRI 2043, TRFK 31/8, Taicha No. 18 — Half the world’s tea plants are known by codes rather than names, and the codes are not arbitrary. Each one records which institution made the selection and, often, where in its programme the plant sits.
- When a country plants one cultivar — Japan’s planted area is dominated by a single cultivar to a degree unusual in any crop. Several other producing countries are in a milder version of the same position, and it is discussed as a strategic problem rather than only an agronomic one.
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.