Tea Regions, 1st Edition - Assam

It seemed to me that as I learn more about tea I should also take the time to learn more about where this tea is coming from. I thought it would be useful to occasionally provide some information about these regions to all of you also. I'll be adding this information to the Tea Pages website in a new page called "Where Tea is Grown" (still under construction.)

Our first region is Assam. Assam is a state in northeastern India. It is 120 miles east of Darjeeling and is located near/shares borders with China, Myanmar (Burma), the Kingdom of Bhutan, and Bangladesh. (It is the pink block on the right of the map.) The Brahmaputra River flows through it and Assam is also the home of the One Horned Rhinoceros (found in the Kaziranga National Park.) The name Assam comes from the Sanskrit "Asom" meaning "unequal" or "unrivaled."

Monsoons hit each year from April to September. The Brahmaputra River swells and the Ganges River delta floods to the south to Bangladesh. Rainfall is 79 - 118 inches per year (up to 10" - 12" per day during the monsoons.) Temperatures at this time rise to over 100 degrees. Thus, Assam is one of India's least populated regions.

Assam has a long history of craftspeople. Bamboo and cane have been used to create household items, dwellings, musical instruments, and furniture for generations. Muga silk is only produced in this state and other silks are also woven here. Assam has the highest percentage of handlooms and weavers in all of India. Other well-respected crafts here include brass and bell-metal work; the creation of clay, pith, cork, wooden, and cloth toys; jewelry-making; and sculpting of masks, terracotta, and pottery.

The first tea found in Assam was a 60 foot high wild tea plant on the banks of the Brahmaputra River in 1823. The Assam Tea Company was established in 1840. Assam now has 2000 tea gardens and more than 50% of all of Indian tea is grown here - approximately 425,000 tons per year. Most of the tea production occurs "from July to September where 1000 pluckers work eight hours a day....each one picking nearly 50,000 stems a day." (Pettigrew)

* Information in this post comes from Wikipedia, "The Book of Tea" by Alain Stella, "The New Tea Companion" by Jane Pettigrew & Bruce Richardson, and "The Tea Companion: A Connoisseur's Guide" by Jane Pettigrew. The map is made available through Wikipedia's copyleft policy.

Taken from http://teapages.blogspot.com/