This tea map should help you see where your teas are coming from. It isn’t exhaustive, but does show you where retailers like Adagio, Rishi, and Teas Etc. The days are here when discerning tea drinkers ask: “where was this tea sourced?”
Note the blue pin out in the middle of the Pacific. That’s a Hawaiian tea. Click on the map to find out more.
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Walker Tea Review- a tea blog with tea reviews and tea tastings. Operated by Jason Walker.
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Commercial production since: the 1870’s. The British brought tea to the island as early as the 1830’s, and it became a dominant crop after blight prevented the growth of coffee.
Major tea producing regions: Ruhuna, Ratnapura, Dimbula, Uva, and Nuwara Eliya.
Sri Lankan teas will often be found under the Ceylon name, an English transliteration of the name given the island by Portuguese explorers. Its climate allows tea production year-round.
- Ceylon tea production is divided into low-grown (2,000 feet and below), mid-grown, and high-grown (above 4,000 feet).
- The Colombo tea auction holds claim as the largest tea auction in the world, with efficiency that rivals computerized bidding programs.
- Statistics still place Sri Lanka as the largest tea exporting country
- The island’s mountain range creates 2 separate monsoon seasons, one for each side of the mountains.
- Western high-grown (Dimbula region) estates include Brunswick, St. Coombs, and Kenilworth.
- Some of the highest altitude Ceylon black teas include those from Lover’s Leap in the Nuwara Eliya region. These are grown in elevations of 6,000 – 7,000 feet.
- Uva teas grow on the elevated eastern section of the mountain range at altitutes of 3,000 – 5,000 feet.
- Low- and mid-growing regions include Ratnapurna, Galle, and Kandy.
- Though Sri Lanka is known for its orthodox black teas, there has been growth (especially in the low-grown regions) in CTC teas as a response to demand for higher quality tea-bag teas.
- Sri Lankan oolongs and white teas have also gained an increased presence in markets.
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Commercial production since: The British East India Company began production in the 1820s.
Major tea producing regions: Darjeeling, Assam, Nilgiri
Although the West first grew to appreciate teas of Chinese origin, it was Indian black teas that became the affordable favorite of tradition. Here are the 10 facts you need to sound knowledgeable in Indian teas:
- UN stats show India is now second to China in tea production.
- Some of the first attempts of developing teas in India involved introducing Chinese tea plants. Except for Darjeeling, most of these attempts failed.
- 1820’s and 30’s Charles Bruce continued to explore and develop Assam tea gardens, despite the East India Company’s belief that China teas were superior. The failure to successfully develop Chinese teas in India contributed to the downfall of the East India Company.
- 1870’s- John and William Jackson designed steam powered machines for tea production. Over the next 40 years, production costs dropped around 66% while increasing production.
- In the 1960’s Bernd Wulf and Ranabir Sen began to modify the processing of Darjeeling. The result was the more complex aromas and oolong-like subtleties we find in many Darjeelings today.
- The Assam region is one of, if not the largest tea-growing area in the world and accounts for a little over half of all India tea production.
- Second Flush Assam is considered superior in character to first flush Assam. Second Flush harvest lasts from June to September.
- First Flush Darjeeling is picked in late March – early May. While First Flush remains in popular demand for its aromas, Second Flush is also appreciated as having a mature character.
- Nilgiri teas grow in southern India around the Nilgiri (Blue) Mountians.
- Highly regarded tea estates: Goomtee (Darjeeling), Poobong (Darjeeling), Chamong (Darjeeling), Margaret’s Hope (Darjeeling), Burnside (Nilgiri), Chamraj (Nilgiri), and Dunsdale (Nilgiri)
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