Ethiopian Tea

Tea is one of the most widely consumed beverages second to water. Tea (Camellia sinensis) is a perennial plant capable of taking up fluoride (F) from soil and accumulating it in leaves. A substantial amount of F is released during tea infusion and nearly all (about 95%) of the released F is available to consumers. There are three major categories of tea which are distinguished by different processing methods and, consequently, different concentrations of the chemical components in tea. The main types of tea are green tea, oolong tea and black tea. The black tea is a completely fermented (oxidized) tea leaves. Tea is a perennial crop, grown as a monoculture and one of the most popular beverages. Wushwush, Gumaro, and East Africa and their surrounding tea out grower’s farms were considered in the survey and assessed from 77 tea farms. Different insect pests were observed feeding various plant parts of tea in field. Among them, tea aphid and termite were considered as major pests.