The rich genetic diversity of wild tea trees growing in northern Vietnam could help producers breed stronger, more resistant tea varieties. Photo credit: Seth Griffin
Stronger tea trees with greater resilience to climate change and diseases may be brewing on Vietnam’s horizon. A 2025 study by scientists at the Foundation for Sciences and Technology Development of Hanoi Pedagogical University 2 found that ancient assamica trees growing wild in rich biodiverse settings in northern Vietnam exhibit distinct morphological and biochemical characteristics, making them genetically diverse and essential to tea conservation.
Researchers trekked into the foggy mountains of Vietnam’s northwestern province of Lao Cai, where they examined sixteen wild old-growth assamica tea specimens scattered across a variety of microclimates at elevations ranging from 900 to 1400 meters. DNA testing using the Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD)-PCR method revealed high genetic diversity among the populations surveyed, findings that, according to the report, “provide important molecular data to support broader conservation planning and guide selective breeding.”
The report goes on to note that such genetic data could “support breeding efforts aimed at developing elite cultivars adapted to the mountainous regions of northern Vietnam,” a particularly pressing task in the face of climate change and habitat destruction, which are predicted to reduce the suitable cultivation area for Camellia sinensis var. sinensis by 15-32%, and for C. sinensis var. assamica by 32-34% by 2050.
While the specific traits of the trees examined in Lao Cai have yet to be analyzed for viability in selective breeding, researchers’ optimism towards the hidden potential of wild tea varietals is grounded in precedent. Tea history holds several well-known examples of hybridization experiments using wild assamica varieties that yielded new tea cultivars that later proved highly successful, such as Taiwan’s Tai Cha 18, popularly known as Red Jade, and Tai Cha 25. Over the past century, assamica cultivars have played major roles in developing tea industries around the world, and one of the early foundations of tea plantations in southern Vietnam began with research into wild assamica varieties growing in the Annamite Range in Laos.
Beyond the areas included in the Lao Cai study, wild assamica varietals occur regularly throughout the mountains of Vietnam, but limited information has been published on similar genetic testing programs. Further research regarding these populations may yield even more prospects for hybridization. Wild tea trees have also been found to possess a rich array of bioactivities, including antioxidant, antitumor, antimutagenic, antidiabetic, and lipid-lowering properties.
However, it could be a while before a new tea variety developed from studies such as this one finds its way into a teapot. The development of new tea cultivars through selective breeding is an expensive, time-consuming process that can take decades to complete and typically involves extensive experimentation with several potentially viable cultivars. Eventually, through enough trial and error, lucky researchers may stumble upon a hybrid cultivar that offers the perfect combination of the traits that the market is looking for — perhaps one that generates higher yield, a more marketable shade of red, a tasting note that consumers prefer, or which grows in a way that is easier for machines to harvest. Only a few of the results will meet the most essential criteria.