China discovered a species that could replace tea

According to the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, experts at the Tea Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences confirmed that a newly discovered plant called hongyacha can be used to prepare non-caffeine drinks.

Hongyacha tree belongs to Camellia tea tree genus like tea - (Photo: Ji-Qiang Jin et al).

It is a plant that the scientific group led by Professor Liang Chen found in some villages in the southern province of Fujian in remote mountainous areas at an altitude of 700-1,000m. It belongs to Camellia tea tree genus like tea tree.

Villagers often hold hongyacha leaves to treat colds and abdominal pain. When Liang Chen and his colleagues studied the chemical composition of leaves and hongyacha buds using chromatography, they discovered that they contained some useful substances and hongyacha actually did not have caffeine.

Previously, Chinese scientists described a plant of the same species as Camellia ptilophylla , which also contains theobromine, but does not contain caffeine. But hongyacha trees differ significantly from it.

According to Chinese scientists, since hongyacha does not have caffeine but has some useful compounds, it can be a new popular medicine.