Tea Culture In The Northeast

India is the world’s largest tea-drinking nation and the second largest producer of tea, after China. The verdant tea gardens of the Northeast region are the primary sources when it comes to a nation obsessed with chai. We put the kettle on and sip on the cup that is life around the colonial tea bungalow.

- Monalisa Borkakoty

The chronology of tea’s evolution is intertwined with India’s multifaceted history. When the British first discovered tea culture of Assam’s indigenous community, Singpho, they were quick to manifest the idea of monetizing the shrub. And ever since then, there has been no looking back.

Though history books speak about how the Chinese introduced tea to India, it is only partially correct. The British, who were effectively operational in the northeast region of India, always shared an amicable relationship with the locals and got acquainted with their culture and ways of life. Records suggest a British officer was appointed in 1838 as the Superintendent of Tea Gardens to improve the conditions of tea production in Assam. The aim was to turn the northeastern state into an agricultural estate of tea-drinking Britons. It meant business. And huge profits were to be made in the process. It wasn’t an easy ride though. Assam was highly depopulated due to the Burmese infiltration in those days. The superintendent had to arrange laborers from adjoining provinces of British India, besides looking into the extensive logistics involving transportation from the remote Upper Assam to the state capital of Guwahati and further to neighboring Calcutta (erstwhile Indian capital) and finally to London. It could only be managed through waterways and inadvertently there was only one carrier.