Facts About Indian Tea


Few days ago I wrote about deputy chairman planning commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia declaring tea as a national drink of India. It is time to take a look at some interesting facts about Indian tea. Readers of this post can include some more facts in the comment box.

1. The most common word for tea in India is 'Chai' (चाय) or 'Cha' (चा). Like many words in Indian dictionary Chai has too come from Persian language which is derived from Chinese Mandarin Language. So Many people who think Chai is an India word or never had payed attention about this fact that it is actually a Persian word where tea is known as 'Chay'.

2. Most commonly used spices for masala tea are ginger, cardamom, cloves, fennel and basil leafs.

3. Except southern India where coffee is very popular rest of India enjoys variety of spice tea.

4. India used to be largest producer of tea few years ago. Now China has taken number one position. China and India produce more than half of the world's tea leaves.

5. First Indian tea from Assam was sent to England for public sale in 1838.

6. Darjeeling tea enjoys the geographical indication status for its unique 'muscatel' flavor which is not found anywhere in the world.

7. Tea is being cultivated in mainly three areas in India: Darjeeling (West Bengal), Assam & Nilgiris.
There are some more tea cultivation areas in Bihar, Odisha, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand etc.

8. Chai time or tea break is now a tradition all over world and according to United Kingdom Tea Council tea break has been with us for approximately 200 years.

9. Each day one person can drink maximum of four cups of tea for optimum benefit. Tea is a good source of fluoride which can protect against tooth decay.

10. More than 95% people take their tea with milk.

11. To lure domestic & international tea lovers to the country government of India is promoting tea tourism aggressively in the country. Tea tourism include walk around tea garden, accommodation in the tea garden's heritage bungalow, tea tasting sessions, trekking etc

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Comments

  1. Bhavana10 May 2012 at 17:19

    I do love a well-brewed tea. But recently an American friend commented that all our teas are the same--the dark brew. She said tea is any concoction from any set of leaves and we seem to drink only from tea leaves!!! How do you respond?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rajnish10 May 2012 at 17:33

    Bhavana, I also love a nice brewed Darjeeling leaf tea. But at the same time I also enjoy a good brewed typical masala (spice) tea. I feel your friend has generalized the fact that our teas are the same. No, it is not. Masala tea has a lot of variety. Some people like to mix all permitted spices in the tea and some people only go for specific set of spices like ginger tea, cardamom tea, clove tea, tea made with basil leaves and it goes on. Kashmir region has its own variety of tea which is called 'Kahva'. Even oxford dictionary has incorporated Indian Masala Tea as one of the three types of teas in the world.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Raghav10 May 2012 at 17:46

    I'm not really a tea drinker, nor much of a coffee drinker either, but it's good to know some facts especially since tea is always a topic of discussion when traveling. Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jayashree Srivatsan11 May 2012 at 09:42

    In addition, tea plantations look very beautiful and serve as excellent locations for clicking family photos and for Bollywood songs :D

    ReplyDelete
  5. The Poet11 May 2012 at 09:58

    Hello.
    Tea is not only popular in India, but in the UK too. I do enjoy a nice cup of tea every once in a while, but I'm afraid my habit is coffee. I agree with jaish_vats...the plantations are indeed very beautiful & perfect spots for taking photos. Thanks for sharing.

    You are invited to the next Blog Hop Saturday! on June 2nd. All you have to do is linkup, visit others in the Linky & just have fun. To allow for friends from afar, the link will open on Fri June 1st from 8:00pm-11:59pm Sat June 2nd. All times are Eastern. Everyone is welcome. Hop you can join the fun!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nitin Jain11 May 2012 at 12:27

    tea has been an integral part of the Indian way of life...even the Arabs are a big time fan of tea..though their versions of tea are usually without milk...in whatever form..i always enjoy the tea...thanks for sharing the info !

    ReplyDelete
  7. ashok11 May 2012 at 20:02

    interesting info

    ReplyDelete
  8. Suman20 May 2012 at 09:19

    Ah, this refreshed my morning! I'm an absolute tea-aholic, and am always game for a hot cuppa 'adrak chai'.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Unseen India Tours22 May 2012 at 20:16

    Very Informative !!Learnt many facts !!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Bhushavali24 May 2012 at 22:51

    Impressive facts!!!
    Reminded me of one of my train travels. Somewhere in the outskirts of Rajasthan, when the Delhi bound Express stopped for signal, the locals of that village started selling tea thru the train windows!!!
    Btw, thanks for your visit & comments in My Travelogue Rajneesh!!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Jasmeet5 June 2012 at 01:13

    ohh unique post . i liked the way u ascribed abt indian tea n m aholiic of Tea from last 2 years :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Obat Kuat28 August 2012 at 10:20

    postingan yang bagus tentang Facts About Indian Tea

    ReplyDelete
  13. Unknown29 September 2018 at 14:00

    nice idea.. thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Mysore Taxi Services13 October 2018 at 13:10

    Nice Post. Thanks for sharing.. mysore-one-day-trip-from-mysore

    ReplyDelete

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