Interesting! So it is somewhat a similar concept with grapevines farming (well, both are agricultural products). They do name the pinot noir clones based on regional names and obscure codes, too. I will open up my wine tome later and send you a private email, because wine is just off-topic here

I believe the database of clonals is kept by wine trade organizations, bootanical organizations, as well as academic insitutions with an enology department. UC Davis and Université Bordeaux are two academic institutions that pop up in my mind, though there are more, of course.

It’s difficult to compare these two because of the number of external variables at play – rainfall, soil and processing methods, to name a few. Like an economist, if we assume that all other factors are constant, then there will not be any difference, because clones are by definition, identical to the “mother-bush”.

Of course, these factors are never constant.

I can’t tell you if clonal tea is “better” than non-clonal, but tea planters tell me that what they like about clones is they give them more control in developing certain characteristics in their tea (such as greater abundance of tips, or even a certain flavor profile or leaf size). This is difficult to do with seed plants, as external variables play a greater role in the quality of the resulting leaf.

I’m so glad I have at least one astute reader. Yes, I did mean *more*, and I’ve made the change in the post. Thank you for pointing that out.

Interesting about pinot. Is there some global wine industry association that actually tracks clone names worldwide? If so, that’s quite remarkable.

Tea clones are also named, though I think the naming occurs on a regional basis. I doubt if the tea industry is organized enough to actually track each clone effectively (I could be wrong). When talking to planters or managers of tea gardens, we often hear about obscure names like “TRI-2025″ or “TD-1″.

I’ve got a few rough ideas for the article on clonal tea and I’m still trying to find the time to complete it. Very soon, I hope.

Warm regards.

Drawing from my shallow wine knowledge, pinot noir is one of the most cloned varieties. They (the wine industry) keep track and name each pinot noir clone, and each clone has a different profile such as climate preference, specific disease resistance, skin thickness, etc…down to taste and aromas, too.

So it would be interesting to learn about how cloning affects tea plants.

As a side note, you wrote:

“Clonal tea production in general produces better yields because the plants are less resistant to disease and other natural factors.”

Did you mean “…because the plants are *more* resistant to disease…?” Just wondering.