History of tea in India which has impacted the world-wide consumption of tea

Tea is a widely consumed beverage in India. It is also its largest producer. Almost 70 per cent of the overall cultivation is consumed in India itself. Earlier in the 16th century, tea was consumed by the Chinese for medicinal uses. In 1689 tea was consumed without sugar in Surat or mixed with a small number of lemons, and tea added with some spices was used for relief for headaches. 

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Tea leaves in India

British colonists were trying to experiment and introduce tea in India and they noticed that the tea plants grew thicker leaves in Assam and the same plants had long been cultivated by the Singphos tribe of Assam. In the early years of the 1820s, the British East India Company began large tea production in Assam. In 1826, they took over the region from the local kings. In 1837, the first English Tea garden was established in Upper Assam.

In 1840, the Assam Tea Company began the commercial production of tea in the region. They used the small greenhouses and planted 20,000 tea plants and seedlings in the Darjeeling region of India, on steep slopes in the foothills of the Himalayas, with the acid soil liked by Camellia plants. Further, the Chinese tea workers were also called in India to facilitate the production of tea leaves.

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The tea industry in India today

Tea cultivation and the industry did not stop even after the British left India. In fact, the production and the supply have grown ever since then. During 2015-2016, India reported 232.92 million kgs of tea export.

There are four varieties of tea found in India based on how the tea leaves are processed: Green tea, which is non-fermented, Black Tea which is fermented, Oolong tea which is partly fermented and White tea which is the least processed one. All four types of teas are produced from the same tea plant, Camellia Sinensis. How the tea is made that depends on how it is processed after being picked.

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