Tea - About the Crop

Origin

The history of tea in India dates back to early 19th century when the British army noticed a popular drink among the Singpo tribals of Assam. The drink was made from a wild bush that was later discovered as tea plants.

The world's first tea company was formed in 1839 in Kolkota with Dwarakanath Tagore, grandfather of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore as one of it's directors. Tea was reported to be growing in Nigiri Hills in south India and was found similar to ones growing in Assam. Tea plant was found in Wynad and Travancore areas also. However, tea was made to grow on a commercial scale in south India only in 1854.

The development of Kanan Devan Hills by James Finlay and Co. in 1878 with tea as an exclusive crop, is a landmark in the history of tea planting in this part of the country.  Soon, tea cultivation caught up in Wayanad and by 1889 planting was taken up on a large scale in the district.  In the Anamallais (Coimbatore Dist.), the actual opening of tea estates was around 1897.  Karnataka came into the tea map, rather recently.

Today, India has 39,700 tea estates (32,000 in the south and 6,700 in north) and a tea-producing workforce of more than a million people. Little did the Singpo tribals know that the plant that was wildly growing in Assam would play a major role in the economy of India today with India being the largest producer of tea globally.