With Diwali arriving on Sunday, Ku Cha explores the fascinating world of teas from India, and reviews its own line of premium Indian teas
You drink it hot in the morning, with milk and sugar. For lunch, you pour it over ice and spritz it with lemon.
Earl Grey. English Breakfast. Irish Breakfast.
It all sounds very British, and for good reason — the United Kingdom was instrumental in introducing tea to the world.
But we can thank India (and to a lesser extent Sri Lanka and Kenya) for much of the black tea we consume in the United States, mostly from the northeastern state of Assam.
We work closely with contacts in India and Ceylon to source especially high-quality teas, much of it organic. Malty Assams. Flowery Darjeelings. Spicy styles of chai. Ceylon Superior from the New Vithanakande estate. We take Indian tea seriously, and look forward to helping you find the just-right style for your cuppa’.
Please visit one of our shops on Saturday, when we will be pouring Assam, Darjeeling 1st Flush, and Ceylon Superior from the New Vithanakande estate.
And take note that Sunday begins the five-day festival of lights called Diwali. The jubilant observance, which coincides with the Hindu New Year, brings together millions of Hindus, Sikhs and Jains from around the world to celebrate fresh beginnings and the victory of good over evil.
The Story of Tea in India
Tea culture is rich and strong in India. In fact, only China consumes more tea than India. But unlike in China and Japan, where tea’s roots stretch back thousands of years, tea in India is a relative newcomer. Close behind India is Sri Lanka, which used to be called Ceylon.
Evidence does suggest people in the northeastern region of the Nigiri Hills in Assam sipped tea as far back as 750 BC. But for the most part tea in India remained a cooking ingredient until the 19th Century.
Meanwhile, the British started savoring tea during the 17th century, due to trade with China, the birthplace of tea. By the 19th century, thirst for tea among the British was high, as it had evolved from being a drink reserved for the upper classes to something for everybody.
The year 1858 marks the beginning of what is known as the British Raj, a period of British rule over India that lasted until 1947. Soon after the British seized control of India, they began sneaking tea shoots and seeds to India. The hope? That the small-leafed kind of tea grown in China, Camellia sinensis var. sinensis, could be cultivated in India, and as a result the British no longer would depend upon the Chinese for their tea.
Things worked out for the British. Tea flourished. It became central to British identity, and even helped strengthen other industries, like porcelain and sugar. It rooted in countries around the world: China and India lead for overall consumption, but per capita Turkey is the No. 1 country for tea consumption, followed by Ireland and the United Kingdom.
While India does produce green, white, yellow, oolong and post-fermented tea, it is most famous for its black teas.
India’s Diversity of Teas, including Sri Lankan Ceylon Tea
Assam
One of India’s most common teas, Assam (Camellia sinensis var. assamica) is also one of the few teas native to the subcontinent. Assam tea leaves are large when compared to the vast majority of other teas (Camellia sinensis var. sinensis).
The tea is named after the tropical, wet Assam region where it thrives. During the monsoon season it can rain as much as 12 inches a day in Assam, while temperatures routinely approach 100 degrees.
When the British first began cultivating tea in India, they believed that Assam tea was far inferior to Chinese-style teas.
But over time they began to embrace Assam teas. Among other things, the tea was suited for the region’s extreme climate and easy to propagate and grow at an industrial level. The Brahmaputra River is key to Assam’s success as a global tea producer. It supplies irrigation for expansive tea plantations.
Assam today produces more tea anywhere else in India, and its teas are relied upon for many classic English blends, such as the “breakfast” blends, as well as Masala Chai.
Assam is known for its “malty” flavor, the result of the region’s extreme moisture and humidity.
Darjeeling
Where Assam comes from the big-leafed tea variety native to India, Darjeeling comes from the same kind of tea plants grown in China, Japan and around the world. British industrialists first brought Chinese-style tea to India, and cultivated it in the Darjeeling region.
A good Darjeeling has a unique flavor, with notes of funky muscat wine and less astringency than many other black teas. The complexity is so pronounced that Darjeeling has been dubbed the “Champagne of teas.” While Darjeeling is a black tea, it is normally less oxidized than most other black teas.
Only teas grown in certain areas of India’s Darjeeling district can be called Darjeeling, and the tea is subject to a complicated rating system, including “first flush” (tea harvested in mid-March), “in between” (harvested between the two flush harvests), “second flush” (tea leaves harvested in June, which produce fuller-flavored teas than first flush), “Monsoon or rain” (harvested during the monsoon and rarely exported; used widely across India for Masala Chai) and “Autumnal flush” (harvested after the monsoons, and less delicate than other flush wines).
Just as tea connoisseurs devote themselves to myriad teas in China and Japan, they also are keen on Darjeeling.
Masala Chai
India’s reign as the No. 1 country for tea consumption revolves around Masala chai. In the United States, we simply call it chai.
People across India sip Masala chai all day long. Chai shops anchor every block. People called Chaiwallahs spend all day blending tea, milk, ginger root, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, black pepper and other spices and selling it from stands.
What is Masala chai? Its English translation gives it away — “mixed-spice tea.” The word “chai” in Hindi means tea, which is the Hindi version of the Chinese word for tea, cha.
How did tea on the Indian subcontinent evolve in such a different direction than everywhere else in the world?
Economics.
At the beginning of the 20th Century, when the Indian Tea Association began promoting tea consumption for health and pleasure, the leaves themselves were expensive. Instead of brewing fresh tea for every pot, people began using left-over leaves.
Naturally, the tea grew increasingly weak as the same leaves got used over and over again. To help boost flavor, vendors began adding milk and spices to the tea leaves. In time, people across India began preferring the spicy milk tea to the traditional method of preparing tea.
Most Masala chai is brewed using Assam tea, the most widely grown kind of tea in India.
Ceylon Superior
A British planter named James Taylor in 1867 planted the first tea plantation in Sri Lanka, in a city called Kandy. The crop covered just 19 acres at first, but was so successful it continued to grow. Today, Sri Lanka supports about 460,000 acres of tea plants, and employs more than a million workers. The island nation is the fourth largest in the world for tea production, most of it black tea.
Tea grown in mountainous Sri Lanka is called Ceylon. The island may be small, but given the dramatic differences in elevation and climate, the teas are not uniform in flavor. Some are bold and brisk, others flowery and delicate. Most tea blends designed for iced tea are made from tea grown on Sri Lanka.
We carry Ceylon Superior from the New Vithanakande estate, near the world-famous Sinharaja rain forest. This delicate tea produces an aromatic cup, with chocolatey notes and a pleasant lingering aftertaste.
India and Sri Lanka support some of the great tea cultures of the world, the result of a complex intersection of geopolitics, climate and economics. We cherish teas grown in India and Sri Lanka, and encourage you to swing by the shop for a visit. We will pour you samples of the countries’ many styles!
