Other than plain water, tea is the world’s favourite beverage. Researchers are now uncovering its biological secrets, opening the door to an array of potential benefits.

China is the largest producer and consumer of tea in the world and has abundant tea plant resources and tea products (including green tea, black tea, dark tea, oolong tea, white tea and yellow tea). Since the beginning of the new century, scientific research and technological innovation have led to improvements in the output, quality, safety and consumption of tea in China, which has driven the healthy and sustainable development of China’s tea industry. The team of Academician professor Zongmao Chen at the Tea Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the team of professor Zhonghua Liu at Hunan Agricultural University (HAU) and the team of professor Lizhi Gao at South China Agricultural University (SCAU) have made a series of outstanding achievements in research fields such as tea plant genomics and resource utilization, the theory of tea processing, tea and health, the utilization of functional components from tea, tea pesticide residues and safety.

摘录部分内容：中国是世界上最大的茶叶生产国和消费国，拥有丰富的茶树资源和茶产品（包括绿茶，红茶，黑茶，乌龙茶，白茶和黄茶）。进入新世纪以来，科学研究和技术创新促进了中国茶叶产量、质量、安全和消费的提高，推动了中国茶叶产业的健康持续发展。中国农业科学院茶叶研究所院士陈宗懋院士，湖南农业大学刘仲华教授团队和华南农业大学教授高立志教授研究团队在茶树基因组学和资源利用，茶叶加工理论，茶叶和健康，茶叶功能成分利用，茶叶农药残留和安全等研究领域的一系列突出成就。

以下为刊登在英国《自然》杂志原文

（资料来源：黑茶堂，转载自：品味安化）