TeaHQ

Zhenong 117

One of the Zhenong series bred at an agricultural university in Zhejiang rather than at a national or provincial tea institute, which is a distinction worth noticing: Chinese cultivar development runs through several parallel institutions, and the prefix on a cultivar name usually tells you which one made it. Zhe is Zhejiang and nong is agriculture.

浙農117Camellia sinensis var. sinensisZhenong 117ChinaAlso called Zhenong No. 117

Where it sits in the botany

Zhenong 117 is recorded under Camellia sinensis var. sinensis, the variety group one level above cultivar. It is associated with China, which is where it was selected or is most widely planted rather than the only place it grows.

Registration code: Zhenong 117. 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: zhenong 117, zhe nong 117.

Where it came from

Bred in the Zhenong series in Zhejiang and planted for early, aromatic green tea production.

How firm this is: Inferred rather than taken from a primary breeding or registration record. The series and its institutional origin are consistently reported; the release year and parentage were not verified against a primary source.

What the plant is like

Early budding with a marked aroma, and planted in Zhejiang and neighbouring provinces where an early premium exists. One of a numbered series in which the individual numbers are rarely distinguished on packaging.

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.

  • Green tea — Tea whose oxidation is halted early by heat, keeping the leaf green and the cup fresh, vegetal or marine in character.

Teas in the catalogue made from Zhenong 117

Other cultivars in Camellia sinensis var. sinensis

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.

How TeaHQ handles sources