Tea India

Tea was discovered in China and for hundreds of years, remained a Chinese beverage. Tea grew in popularity in Asia and made its way to Europe and England in the 16th century. In the 1830s, the British East India Company became concerned about the Chinese monopoly on tea, which constituted most of its trade and supported the enormous consumption of tea in Great Britain. The British colonists discovered tea growing wild in Assam and in the 1850s started cultivating tea plantations locally. Historically Indians viewed tea as a herbal medicine rather than as a recreational beverage so consumption of black tea within India remained low until the promotional campaign by the British in the early 20th century, which encouraged factories, mines, and textile mills to provide tea breaks for their workers. Since then, tea has became a big part of the Indian culture. Around the same time, in 1940s, we had our humble beginnings in the tea business, trading teas in Calcutta, India. We truly believed that tea with all its inherent benefits could change the world. We acquired tea plantations in India and became one of the first companies to export packaged teas from India in early 1980s. In 1979, after years working with his family’s Indian tea business, our founder left for the US on a mission to bring premium quality black tea to the US market. Upon arrival in the US, he saw success supplying private label teas to major grocery chains in the country but noticed a gap in the market: The majority of teas available in the US were grown and blended to suit the needs of iced tea but there was nothing that fit the unique taste of spiced Indian chai that Indian consumers cared for. Seeing an untapped market for premium quality tea, we created Tea India®. We wanted to capture the true quality, taste, and experience of Indian chai in our product, so we went to the source: Assam.