6. Tea Regions

1. What is Tea?
2.The Tea plant
3. History of Tea
4. Tea sorts and their Production
5. Tea grades
7. How to brew a perfect cup of Tea
8. Tea and Health

There are more than 3000 varieties of tea and each has its own distinct character.
The main region for tea cultivation was and is Asia.

Assam (India)
Assam teas are bold with a strong malty taste and dark liquid making them excellent morning teas. Bursting with rich, round flavour, it is oftentimes difficult to distinguish one garden from another. Assam teas are delicious with a drop of milk (Assam Dirial).

Darjeeling (India)
Darjeeling is the rarest and the most prestigious of black teas. Its excellent quality is the result of climate and elevation. While sometimes difficult to distinguish one garden from another, each harvest period is easily identifiable. Darjeeling teas have a distinctive taste depending on the season (Steinthal).
- First Flush Darjeeling:
Referred to as "springtime teas", First Flush is harvested from late February to mid-April and yields a light tea with a delicate aroma and flowery taste. This tea is a connoisseur's delight.
- Second Flush Darjeeling:
Referred to as "summer tea", this tea is picked in May and June before the monsoon and produces a darker, more full-bodied cup with an exquisite muscatel flavour. The best qualities fetch maximum prices on the International market.
- Autumnal:
Picked late in the season just before harvesting seizes for the year. Although not teas of the highest quality they still possess a defined, spicy character.

Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
Main areas are Uva, Dimbula and Nuwara Eliya. Ceylon teas have an aromatic amber liquor and a rich, full, astringent flavour. This tea is wonderful with a little cold milk and goes well with a sweet breakfast or afternoon pastry (Ceylon Elephantbox).

China
The country with the most varieties and the longest history of tea in the world: green, black, white, yellow, Pu-erh and scented teas. The main tea areas are situated in the south of China. Most of the tea produced in China is also consumed there (90% of green, 10% of black tea). For a selection of Chinese teas see our Sampler Pack.

Formosa (Taiwan)
Wellknown for their exquisite green and Oolong teas. Just 180km off the Chinese coast with a subtropical climate and elevations up to almost 4000m - ideal for tea cultivation. Most of the exported tea goes to Japan.

Japan
Country with a long tea tradition. Most teas produced in Japan (green teas only) are also consumed there. Japanese teas are often referred as too bitter for the European taste which is mostly a result of the wrong way of brewing those teas (unsuitable water, wrong water temperature and/or brewing time etc.).

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