Growing up in a land with over a thousand tea gardens, my love for this quintessential beverage knows no bounds! As a young girl, my mornings would start with a warm cup of black tea, and I would always make it a point to climb up the terrace and gaze away to glory at the beautiful tea garden right in front of my home.
Since many generations, ever since the beginning of the industry in the 1800s, it was customary for the Assamese to be involved in the business of tea production. It’s no surprise that I have family members in this industry and visiting them means getting gifts of freshly harvested, early flush tea in loose packets. And its taste is indescribable!
Now, coming back to the Assam tea, the story of its serendipitous discovery is rather amusing and not very well known to even the most passionate of tea drinkers. Without further ado, here it goes…
This variant of tea was first known to be consumed by the Singpho local tribe who inhabit the fertile alluvial plains of the Brahmaputra valley in the upper reaches of Assam. It was here that wandering around the jungles, Robert Bruce, a Scottish gentleman, came across this magical plant. However, soon after his accidental discovery of Assam tea, Bruce died. Luckily, before his demise, Bruce was able to convey the information about the common use of tea by the Singpho tribe to his younger brother, Charles who took things forward, and it was not long before that the tea industry started producing the famous Assam tea (Camellia sinensis var. assamica) as it’s known today, worldwide. This monopoly was established with the help of the first Indian tea planter, Maniram Dewan. Because of the British Raj, today, Assam has the largest area under cultivation for tea in the whole world!
Due credit must be given to the plantation workers — the real heroes in cultivating tea who make this cash crop available to millions worldwide. These workers were brought in by the British from the Chotanagpur Plateau in central India to work in the chai bagans (tea gardens) of Assam. Over a hundred years later, today, they are still an integral part of the diverse Assamese culture. Watching the hardworking planters dance the Jhumoor amidst the lush green tea gardens is a treat to the eyes! They happily wear the Japi (the traditional Assamese conical hat) and pluck tea leaves with utmost finesse.
The ringing of the hourly bell is very common in tea estates. In some tea gardens, they specifically ring twice to indicate that it’s 2 o’clock, thrice for 3 am or pm and so on. This gave rise to the ‘Chai Bagan’ time. This was usually for working hours which technically is one hour ahead of the rest of the country, another reason why northeast India demands a separate time zone.
Unfortunately, the tea industry is slowly losing ground as the younger generations choose to leave the state and work outside, partly because of poor infrastructure and a dwindling interest. The charm of the large colonial-style bungalows and the lovely flower gardens don’t seem to attract the crowd as it hardly caters to the needs and aspirations of the youth. A few years ago, when a dear friend of mine said that tea is now a dying industry, it had left me utterly sad as the previous generations would work really hard to get into the industry and enjoy all the perks that were associated with the job.
I feel shocked when I see people boiling their tea when one is supposed to brew it! There are chaiwallas sitting in almost every corner of the street, selling cups of tea which is only loaded with sugar. Today, there are so many start-up ventures coming up exclusively for beverages. It just makes me realize how much of an amazing insight I’ve had growing up amidst tea gardens and now my eyes crave for the sight of it for, now that the tea I consume is not authentic, it’s all but tea dust. And even good chains of restaurants serve tea with tea bags that are just so overpriced. Most of the time, it costs more than what a person from the BPL category earns on an average per day!
Any thoughts on this brewing?