The little-known stories of Indian tea

The Tea Girl
3 min readSep 21, 2020

You’ll be surprised if I tell you that tea/chai was cameto India by the silk caravans from China centuries ago.

Though Camellia Sinensis (Tea Plant) is also native to India, it was only used as part of the diet sometimes for its medicinal properties. It stimulated digestion, elevated mood, and supported circulation and respiratory function.

But, soon under the Bristishers, healthy spiced drink was named as ‘Tea.’ They found Indian soil suitable to cultivate these plants. The Assam valley and the looming mountains of Darjeeling were the first sites for tea plantation. It took over 14 long years of failed attempts to thrive at tea production. Let’s skim through why India couldn’t make it before.

Tea under Colonialism

Under British Raj, the Tea Plant was discovered by Scotsman Robert Bruce in 1824 in Assam. It was the start of commercial tea plantations. The legend says that Singpho people were drinking something very similar to tea. They plucked the tender leaves and exposed them to sunlight and the night dew for three whole days. Later, they would place it inside the hollow of a bamboo tube and smoked till flavors developed. Bruce collected the leaf decoction and found it to be similar to the tea from China.

After his demise in 1830, his brother Charles sent the samples to Calcutta for testing. It was a different variety of tea and he named it ‘Assamica.’

Britishers wanted to break China’s monopoly over global tea production. With rising conflict of interests, East India started production within the British colonies, including India. The first British-led commercial tea plantation in India was established in 1837 in Chabua in Upper Assam.

In 1840, Chinary tea plants came to Darjeeling and Kangra’s highland. The tea here was slightly healthier, and this led to more plantations in Darjeeling by 1841. Many others began experimenting with tea in much the same way, and by 1847, an official tea plant nursery started in Darjeeling. Soon after, the first commercial plantation was established with the setting up of Tukvar Tea Estate in Darjeeling in 1850.

What went wrong under colonialism?

  • People lost the true essence of tea when Britishers started pouring it in fancy cups.
  • They added milk and called it ‘afternoon tea.’ It was used for special occasions such as tea parties at the elites’ place.
  • Britishers made tea as a hot beverage of choice.

How did India fought back for tea?

After World War I, Indian vendors, equipped with stoves and kettles. They began selling tea at Bengal, Punjab, and the borderline provinces.

People preferred a cup of tea at the platform tea stalls than in the first-class restaurant cars on the trains. Eye-grabbing hoardings and posters for tea recipes were seen in Indian languages on several railway platforms. You can still find these hoardings in Bengal’s railway network at Ballygunge, Dum Dum, Naihati, Bangaon, Shantipur, and Ranaghat.

British choice of beverage soon turned into an Indian hybrid. Local vendors added large quantities of milk and sugar into their tea. By the 21st century, over 70 percent of Indians started drinking tea. The wealthy class’ drink soon became the favorite drink of the common man. People gathered at tea stalls to talk to each other. Soon these small gatherings became big. Tea stalls were the staple meeting place for workers to network, and form opinions. Who would have thought then that chai would some day connect people to fight back?

I still remember the days of travelling on train. From small stations to first-class compartments, chai walla was the most ubiquitous symbols of a train journey. Waking up to a beautiful view and sipping Kulhad Chai made the trip worth it.

The chai-wallah marches through the carriages with a kettle swinging in one hand and clay glasses in the other, calling out ‘chai-lelo-chai.’ Indian chai has traveled a long way. You can easily find it every nook and corner.

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