History of Tea

History of Indian Tea
In the late 1830, the tea plant was growing wild in the jungles of the northeast Assam and it was when commercial production of tea had just started along. IN 1598, Jan Huyghen Van, a Dutch traveler after his visit to India noted that the Indians ate the tea leaves as a vegetable with garlic and oil and boiled it to make a fine liquor. 

In 1788, Joseph Banks, the British botanist notified the fast Indian company that the climate in certain parts of northeast India which was a British province, was ideal for growing tea. However, he seems to have slipped away the fact that the plant was a native of Bengal and suggested the transplantation of tea bushes from China which was a vain idea overall. 

On contrary, in 1833, everything changed. The company woke up to the fact of India being the most profitable alternative for them to fill up the loss of its monopoly. A committee was set up. Charles Bruce was vested with the task of establishing the first nurseries, and the secretary of the Committee was sent to China to collect 80,000 tea seeds because they were still not sure where the tea plant was really indigenous to India.

The seeds imported from China were planted in the Botanical gardens in Kolkata and nurtured until they were strong and capable enough to travel 1000 miles to the newly prepared tea gardens. Meanwhile in the hills of Assam, Charles Bruce and other pioneers started clearing suitable area of land on which they decided to develop plantation, prune existing tea bushes to inspire new growth, and experiment with freshly plucked leaves from the native bushes to produce black tea. Bruce had hired two tea – makers from china and hence, steadily learnt the secret of successful tea production with other support. 

Ironical indeed, the native plants grew with beauty and stamina, while the Chinese seedlings struggled against the intensity of heat in Assam. Eventually, a decision was made to replace the Chinese seedlings with those from native bush. The first twelve chest of tea manufactured from the Assam leaf were sold at the London auction in 1838. This resulted in the East India Company to address the state of Assam with the merit of excellence. 

After bagging huge profit through continuous exportation of tea to the East, the Assam tea company established a successful industry along the Brahmaputra Valley, with factories and housing settlements. The company began to expand into other districts of Northeast India. In the mid 1850, cultivation slowly took place around the town of Darjeeling in the foothills of the Himalayas. 

By the time of 1857, native tea exploited 60 to 70 acres of land whereas the Chinese variety of tea plant could not survive the elevations of 2500 to 6000 feet and the conditions of Assam. The company further moved into Terai and Dooars and even into the remote   Kangra valley, lying at the distance of 800 miles west of Darjeeling. 

In 1835, while the first nurseries were being established in Assam, the western tip of the country had yet been making experiment on plantations, and by the mid 1850s, tea was growing successfully next to the row of coffee plantation. The tea plant steadily expanded in the area of the Nilgiri Hills due to its favourable climatic conditions. 

“Rapid Rate of tea production in India Since 1855”

Today, facing a global challenge, India is one of the world’s largest producers of tea with 13,000 gardens and 2 million people committed to generate work force.