Editorial

Abstract

This special issue of the International Journal of Tea Science on tea breeding and germplasm evaluation has been long in the making. It traverses the span of tea development from the discovery of Assam type plant by Robert Bruce in 1823 to the dawn of 21st century when transgenics are on the horizon. It is organized in two distinct parts. The first part comprises of seven papers dealing with tea breeding and germplasm evaluation for using biotechnological tools. The second part contains >200 scientific abstracts of global research reports on tea, which are classified into 32 subject matter groups, ranging from agronomy, and biotechnology to health effects, tea manufacture, marketing and history and culture.