How did Assam black tea become popular in the world

India Assam Tea Garden

Black tea is a kind of drink that gets the person to love, and Assam black tea is the most representative in it.
Today we will learn about how Assam black tea became popular all over the world step by step

The largest black tea product location – Assam

Known as the world’s largest tea product location, Assam is located in the foothills of the Himalayas in northeastern India. The temperature difference between day and night in Assam is large, and the rainfall is abundant and the light is intense. Grown in this climate, Assam tea has a unique astringency and mellow taste.

According to recent statistics, India ranks second only to China in terms of tea production but ranks first in terms of black tea production alone. It is not only the earliest production of black tea countries outside China, and not to be underestimated from the flavor, characteristics, the uniqueness of the classic production areas, as well as the influence on the later black tea industry.

The developing history of Assam black tea in India

Although the development of tea in India did not start until modern times, according to research, there were records of tea being picked as a drink as early as 700 BC. And records of tea being cooked with oil and garlic as a vegetable was also found around the 16th century.

India’s black tea industry began in the late 1700s when Britain was Europe’s largest consumer of black tea. In addition to starting to dump opium on China in exchange for tea, the idea of growing black tea in the country’s other Asian colonies came to mind to balance the huge trade surplus caused by rising annual tea consumption.

In the 1780s, the British East India company first tried to grow tea seeds from China in the botanical gardens of Calcutta, but the results were not very satisfactory. In 1832, Scottish explorer Robert Bruce stumbled across large-leaved tea tree across the Brahmaputra valley in Assam, and the natives picked and drank it early.

The Assam black tea is the basic of Indian people’s tea drinking life

The samples obtained were identified and confirmed to have the potential for cultivation, so tea gardens were built under the guidance of local aristocrats Manyam Dhawan, and tea makers were invited from Wuyi, Fujian province to teach tea making techniques.

Therefore, in the future black tea industry, the large-leaved tea trees in this area are always be called “Assam tea”, and in Taiwan, the term “Assam tea” is also used to refer to the tea produced from large-leaved tea trees originating from Assam, India.

In 1838, the first tea arrived in London. The golden age of Indian tea began in 1840 with the establishment of the Assam tea company and its expansion into the rest of India.

Black tea from tea garden to market

More than 90% of the black tea produced by Assam is processed by the CTC method, which is mainly used for drinking in the Indian domestic consumer market. The Orthodox way processes less than 10% of the black tea.

At present, tea plantations in Assam are mainly distributed on both sides of the Brahmaputra valley. High temperature and high humidity weather produce excellent tea with a unique flavor. In the production season, tea leaves can be picked and made every year from March to the end of November before winter comes. But the best tea is picked in late April and then in the warm, dry season before the rainy season begins in late June.

High-grade CTC Assam black tea

It’s worth noting that in addition to the traditional strong flavor, Assam also produces a small amount of high-grade black tea with golden leaf buds, the flavor is dense, with fragrant, bright fruit and floral flavor, people like it very much.