Category Archives: General Tea Background

Tea Travels: How Does Tea Get to Market?

As we noted in an earlier blog about where tea is grown, tea comes from a large number of countries around the world, though only a relatively small number including China, India, Japan, and Kenya produce it in large scale. But we were curious, how does the tea actually get into our hands for consumption?

Tea, of course, starts with the plant, Camellia sinensis. Tea plants begin life as cuttings in a nursery before being planted in fields for commercial growing. These fields may be corporately owned or those of smallholders which makeup a substantial, if not the majority of growers around the world. (United Nations, Food and Agriculture Organization, 2012). After a flush of new growth appears, pluckers will pick leaves ranging from a bud only to a bud and two or three leaves, collecting the leaves in a basket or other container. While manual labor is used for most plucking, some tea is harvested by mechanical means.

After plucking, tea immediately begins to loose moisture and begin oxidation and must quickly get to a manufacturing plant. So the farm and the manufacturing plant must be close enough to allow raw leaves to be delivered immediately. Farmers rarely own manufacturing facilities themselves, so after tea is picked in the field it is carried to a factory on foot, car, truck, bicycle, or motorcycle depending on what happens to be at hand. This may be done by the farmer or by middlemen who purchase the raw tea leaves and transport it to the factory for processing.

Tea Chests by Flickr user mikecogh, CC BY-SA-2.0

Once at a factory the tea leaves are processed and turned into one of the major types of teas. This may be done using CTC or Orthodox methods, ultimately resulting in a finished tea product that is ready for packaging and sale. At this stage tea is packaged in large containers made of a variety of types including polypropylene, jute (vegetable fiber spun into threads), or paper sacks or in tea chests. Tea chests are made of plywood lined with aluminum foil and parchment paper to ensure they resist absorption of other aromas and, when full, may weigh 75-160 lbs while foil lined tea sacks may weigh 55-130 lbs. (TIS-GDV, 2013)

Depending on country and local arrangement, tea may be sold directly to distributors and wholesalers or may go through auction. There are well established auction houses in Colombo, Mombasa, Calcutta, and cities in other major tea producing countries of the world. In some cases the tea is actually packaged and leaving port before money has traded hands!

Shipping Containers by Flicker user wirralwater, CC BY-2.0

Packaged tea is shipped in a variety of methods although excessive handling is not desired as sacks and chests are easily damaged resulting in loss of the tea within. It is normally placed on pallets and then moved by forklift into a shipping container to be shipped around the world. When it gets to the destination port this container may be emptied and the contents re-shipped, or the container itself may be forwarded on to the end buyer.

Upon reaching the distributor or wholesaler the shipment of tea is then split up, sold in existing packaging, or repackaged into smaller sizes for purchase by retailers and in some cases direct to consumer. At this point some tea may become the base of a blended tea or may remain as is. Finally, the retailer will repackage the finished product into sizes that are manageable for consumers and sold directly or sold to other retailers, tea houses, or hospitality establishments.

Since tea does have a shelf life it is important to get the tea to retailers and consumers quickly. Some aspects of shipping can be done faster, especially with air shipping and consumer purchase direct from the grower. However, these are generally niche solutions with low volume, appropriate for specialty teas and buyers who really know what they want and are willing to deal with some added risk of placing orders with a company overseas.

So where do you buy your tea? Physical tea store, on-line retailer, farmers market, other?

Like what we have to say? Let us know, follow the Dominion Tea blog or follow us on Twitter or Facebook.

David @ Dominion Tea

Works Cited

TIS-GDV. (2013). Tea. Retrieved from Transport Information Services – GDV: http://www.tis-gdv.de/tis_e/ware/genuss/tee/tee.htm

United Nations, Food and Agriculture Organization. (2012). Contribution of Smallholders to the tea sub-sector and policies required to enhance their livelihood. Colombo, Sri Lanka: Intergovernmental Group on Tea.

Why are there no tea plantations in the US?

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You would be forgiven for believing that there are no tea plantations in the United States. Aside from China, Japan, India, Sri Lanka, and Kenya there aren’t any other suitable locations for growing tea right? If you read our earlier blog about where tea is grown you will note that the US does indeed grow some tea, though at very small quantities. That got us thinking… Why is it that American farmers never took up tea? After all, tea does grow at a wide range of elevations and latitudes. Much of the continental US from North Carolina and Tennessee southward lies at about the same latitude of Shizuoka prefecture, which leads Japanese tea producing regions. So why is it that tea isn’t generally produced in the US? Perhaps the most significant reason dates back to an 1897 report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in which the author, William Saunders writes “At the lowest estimate, it costs about eight times more to pick one pound of tea in South Carolina than the prices paid for the same service in Asia.” (Saunders, 1897) This one sentence appears over and over as justification for why tea isn’t produced here in America. In short, it’s too expensive to compete with the cost of labor in Asia. A hundred years later this thought process is strikingly familiar, with Asia continuing to produce all kinds of things with dramatically lower labor costs. But is the lower labor rate really the reason or, as the report also suggests, might it have been the shortage of skilled growers and manufacturers was the real stumbling block to getting tea off the ground in the U.S.

Historical Events from the Civil War to 1900.

US History Timeline Surrounding the Tea Farm Experiment

At the time of the USDA study there was significant upheaval in the United States where the Civil War was still very much on the minds of the population. The American South, which arguably had the better climate for Tea, was struggling to rebuild, had suffered substantial loss of capital, and struggled to adapt to an economy not based on slavery. Indeed, a report from the Debow’s Review, a widely circulated magazine of the time, published in October 1867, made it quite apparent that landowners felt the freed slaves “have ruined many Southern planters who had but little capital and endeavored to work their plantations on shares.” (Debow, 1867) With the US Agricultural scene adapting to producing crops without slave labor, the idea of introducing a new agricultural product that required manual picking of leaves and a manufacturing process that was still foreign to the US would be laughable.

The current focus by many US consumers on locally grown or raised produce, wine, and cattle might give tea yet another chance in the US economy. There are a number of tea growers in Hawaii producing specialty teas including Black, White, Green, and Oolong varieties. Back on the mainland, there is one commercial operation in South Carolina where tea has been grown and abandoned multiple times since the 1800’s. More recently the US League of Tea Growers has been formed in an attempt to bring together growers from across the country to share knowledge, develop best practices, identify or create cultivars suitable to the U.S., and to promote the U.S. tea industry.

As we close out this blog it’s important to take away that there is tea being grown and produced here in the United States. Over the coming years there may be greater availability of specialty tea products from across the country. Perhaps tea does have a place in the American agricultural economy and perhaps, all those years ago, folks should have more fully read the fateful report for the USDA considering “Dr. Shepard stated that if he were twenty years younger he would plant 500 acres as rapidly as he could procure the plants. This indicated his faith in tea raising as a profitable industry.” (Saunders, 1897)

What do you think? Is there a place for American produced teas? If they were more expensive, yet locally produced from a farm you could visit, would you seek them out?

Want to know when the next blog comes out? Follow us on Twitter @DominionTea, @DavidSColey, or @HillaryColey or follow Dominion Tea on Facebook.

Works Cited

Debow, J. D. (1867, October). Agricultural, commercial, industrial progres and resources. Debow’s Review.

Saunders, W. (1897). An Experiment in Tea Culture, A Report on the Gardens of Dr. Charles U. Shephard, Pinehurst, S.C. Washington: United States Department of Agriculture, Division of Gardens and Grounds.
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Terroir of Tea

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A Tea Plantation somewhere in Alishan
By Alexander Synaptic (Flickr id)
CC BY-SA 2.0

Terroir (ter-war) is used to define the characteristics of a place (soil, water, altitude, latitude and climate) that effect the taste of a final agricultural product. Wine is the main agricultural product defined by terroir. The French really drove the use of terroir in describing agricultural products with its regulations requiring use of region in labeling of French wine. For example, wines produced in the Bordeaux region of France are classified by a sub region in relation to where they are to the Garonne River – Saint-Estèphe, Paulliac, Saint-Julien, Margaux, Graves, Saint-Émilion and Pomerol. These classifications were originally made in 1855 and have been adhered to since then because they have helped the producers to distinguish their products from each other, define quality and drive up prices. Tea can also be defined by terroir; the only problem is that the producers of tea are not always using this to their advantage. India is one exception – Assam, Darjeeling, Kangra, Dooars, Terai and Nilgiri teas are all named after the region in which they are grown and marketed in a fashion that helps the consumer associate the region to the flavor of the final beverage.

So what conditions does tea need to grow? To its advantage, the tea plant is a very versatile perennial, so it can grow in a variety of soil types.

Dragon Well Tea Plantation – Hangzhou
By Dave Proffer (Flickr id)
CC BY 2.0

However, for optimal production the soil should be acidic, between 4.5 to 5.5 ph., loose enough to allow the 6 foot tap root to burro down to its preferred length, and contain a good mix of nutrients (Nitrogen, Magnesium, Calcium, etc.) that the tea plant uses to grow. Like other plants, it will strip nutrients from the soil necessitating replenishment via some manner of fertilization. The Japanese use grasses to re-fertilize their tea plants, which influence the taste of the final tea and is credited by the tea farmers for the complex flavors of their teas.

Five hours of direct sunlight is optimal, however, less light disturbs the chloroplasts in the tea leaves, creating more aromatic oils and slowing growth. This is why high altitude teas are considered the higher quality tea, they get between 2-3 hours of sunlight, creating more aromatic oils. Those oils create the complex flavor of those teas. More than five hours and plant will continue to grow, but the flavor will be dramatically different.

The tea plant likes lots of water, but doesn’t want to sit in it. Plants need at least 50 inches of rain annually and 70-90% humidity. By definition the water and humidity requirement put the plant in the sub-tropic to tropic zone, and while it can handle some weather variation it cannot survive prolonged dry seasons or freezing.

Latitude effects terroir through the length of the growing period. The closer to the equator (think Kenya and Argentina), the longer the growing period. In Kenya, tea is harvested year-round while it is only harvested twice a year (spring and fall) in most Chinese regions. Tea in Taiwan is harvested five times a year between April and December with the July and August harvests continually ranked as the finest.

ST831850 – Munnar tea plantation
By fraboof (Flickr id)
CC BY-SA 2.0

So how does one use terroir when purchasing tea? Look for where the tea comes from, and if possible search for single origin teas from one tea plantation. This will allow you to identify the flavor unique to the tea produced in that region, for instance Assam tea is consistently malty in flavor. Dongding Oolong produced in the Nantou county of Taiwan is said to gets its unique award winning flavor from the constant fog in this mountainous region. There are many black teas from China associated with the provenience it is grown it. A Yunnan black tea tastes very different from a Fujian black tea. So treat your teas like wine, know where they come from, learn their flavors and enjoy comparing them. It makes drinking a cup of tea a truly special experience.

What do you think? Can you taste the terrior in your tea?

@HillaryColey

Where is Tea Grown?

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We recently attended a tasting session featuring teas from around the world. The teas were outstanding to be sure, however, they represented teas from only a small portion of the world. The countries represented included China, Japan, Tibet, India, Sri Lanka, and Kenya and provided a very diverse set of teas. These included white, yellow, green, black, dark, and even purple teas. But our tasting from “around the world” barely even scratched the surface. There are a huge number of countries growing teas. In fact, more than 50 countries grow tea today including many from Asia, a good number from Africa, and some perhaps surprising locations like former Russian states, Iran, Argentina, Brazil, and yes, even the United States, though not always at a high enough to be globally competitive. While the top four growers (China, India, Sri Lanka, and Kenya) far and away surpass the others, tea production is very much a global business. The average American consumer tea is most likely from China, India, Sri Lanka, or Kenya. However, to illustrate just how global the business is, a somewhat dated report by the U.S. Department of Labor noted in 1996 that Germany, which grows virtually no tea, has consistently been one of the top countries supplying tea to the US market_{(Department of Labor, n.d.)}!

China and India account for 55% of global tea production.

Countries grouped by relative global share of tea production. Based on 2011 United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization data. http://www.fao.org/statistics.en/ (Full Tableau Visualization)

Tea as a Global Commodity

Tea is the second most consumed drink in the world, behind water, and demand continues to grow year after year. While tea is consumed in the form of loose leaf, bagged tea, and chai, innovations in ready to drink teas, and powdered tea drinks in Asia continue to drive additional growth. One of the fastest growing segments in Asia, according to Euromonitor ^{(Friend, 2013)}, is the powered tea segment with products like Xiang Piao Piao, which is a single serve cup of instant powered tea in a variety of sweetened flavors. According to the UN’s Intergovernmental Group on Tea, demand for black tea has exceeded supply since 2009. This long term demand is expected to keep the price of tea high for years to come _{(United Nations, 2012)}.

Photo of Coffee Rust – by Carvalho et al – CC-BY-SA 2.5

Where demand exceeds supply the price generally stays high until supply rises enough to meet that demand so it is reasonable to expect that more countries will see commercial tea planned and those already in the business may increase both the land area under cultivation and work to improve the yield of existing plantations. Additionally, some coffee plantations may choose to change over to tea. This is because coffee rust is increasingly impacting coffee plantations in South America and pushing down coffee production rates. Rust isn’t actually new, it’s what drove Sri Lanka to switch from growing coffee to tea back in the mid to late 1800’s. However, it is now impacting South America, parts of which are seeing the worst outbreaks of coffee rust since it took hold in the 1970’s. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is expecting significant decline in crop yields for the 2013-14 season on top of already significant declines in 2012-13 _{(U.S. Departement of State, n.d.)}

Given the growing appreciation and demand for ready-to-drink products and specialty teas in the United States, Canada, and other parts of the world we may very well have increased opportunity to experience an even wider variety of tea products from a wide variety of countries in the years to come.

[ See Related Post: Tea vs Coffee Imports – Who are the superpowers? ]

Works Cited
Department of Labor. (n.d.). ILAB – TEA. Retrieved from Bureau of International Labor Affairs: http://www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/sweat4/tea.htm

Friend, J. F. (2013). Global Tea Opportunities in Retail and Foodservice. World Tea East. Atlanta: Euromonitor.

U.S. Departement of State. (n.d.). Retrieved from Coffee Rust Outbreak in Central America, Southern Mexico, and the Caribbean: http://www.state.gov/e/eb/tpp/abt/coffee/index.htm

United Nations. (2012, February 29). UN News Centre. Retrieved from Global tea prices set to stay strong this year, says UN agency: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp/story.asp?NewsID=41411&Cr=Food+Prices&Cr1=#.UoS9i94o601

What’s in a Cup of Tea?

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Simple right? Add some leaves to a little hot water, let sit a few minutes, and voilà. However, this seemingly simple question can unfurl into a huge variety of topics ranging from the different types of tea to the impact on world history. An exploration of tea affords the opportunity to better understand what is behind those tea bags, broaden your palette, and appreciate how the drink has influenced history and the world culture that we have today. Our intent with the Dominion Tea blog is to try to explore a variety of these topics, admittedly with a focus on specialty loose leaf tea. Over time we seek to dive deeper into the many facets of tea in an effort to learn more about this beverage. In this specific posting we seek merely to scratch the surface, looking broadly at products, countries growing tea, and how history was impacted by our favorite drink.

Types of Tea

Most US citizens associate tea with the humble tea bag found in the grocery store or restaurant. However, today tea is found in a great many forms, driven by wide ranging consumer interest in gourmet and specialty foods, social concerns around its production, convenience, and individual health. As a result, products include loose leaf tea, tea bags, ready-to-drink products, powdered options, shampoo, body wash, masks and scrubs, and even supplements.

Loose Leaf Tea vs Teabags

Within brewed or steeped tea, most American consumers experience comes from tea bags. These generally come from an extremely small number of multi-national corporations that buy huge quantities of tea and produce bags branded for consumer sale. This product is produced on mass scale and the emphasis is on low cost with consistent taste. The actual product inside is normally small particles from many different sources, referred to as fannings and dust. Contrast tea bag tea with that of specialty loose leaf tea which is closer to whole leaf and, at the high end, consists of the very best leaves which have been hand-picked and processed. While it’s virtually impossible to know where commodity products come from, it is increasingly common to know where and how specialty teas have been grown and manufactured. For those looking for a stronger connection to the source, greater variety, and higher quality, specialty teas offer a wide array of choice. Yellow, White, and Oolong Teas are among the options beyond the well-known Green and Black varieties. However, like fine wines, loose leaf specialty tea varies greatly in quality, authenticity, price, and availability. Generally, the closer to the traditional growing region and production methods, the wider the variety in taste from year to year, the harder it is to come by, and the more amazing the drinking experience.

Tea Growing Countries

Tea is produced in a large number of countries around the world. While China, India, Japan, and Sri Lanka are well known producers, the list also includes Kenya, Jamaica, Iran, Argentina, the United States, and many others. Numbers from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations suggest that some of these countries, like Japan and India, as well as China, grow tea in large part to satisfy domestic consumption. Others, like Sri Lanka and Kenya, produce it primarily for export, and some, like the U.S. grow only on a very minor scale. The cliff notes version is that a large number of countries produce tea with huge variety in production, appearance, and flavor differences providing a knowledgeable and informed tea drinker many avenues to explore.

History of the Worlds Second Most Popular Beverage (after water)

Tea permeates the history of many countries dating back hundreds of years and continuing to modern times. Around 1000 CE tea was a major trading commodity used by the Chinese to acquire horses from Tibet. More recently the trade led to the Opium Wars, concluding in 1842 with the United Kingdom taking ownership of Hong Kong. American imports from England began in about 1711 and continued until the Boston Tea Party of 1773 when the colonists, fed up over British taxation, tossed shiploads of tea into the harbor. As Joseph M. Walsh wrote in Tea: Its History and Mystery (circa 1892), “The birth of the greatest nation of all time [was] due to a three-penny tax on tea!”

American Tea Clipper Ship
Antonio Jacobsen [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

After the revolution, of course Americans continued drinking tea and the first two Clipper ships manufactured in the U.S. , Helena and Montauk built by H.W. Webb, were built specifically to travel to China for tea. Today American consumers prefer black tea by far. However, early American consumers actually preferred green tea until World War II when access was lost to most sources and the American palate shifted toward black.

Conclusion

Making a cup of tea can be quite a simple and pleasurable experience. However, for those of us who would like to know more about what is behind the beverage in our cup, how it is properly prepared, and how preferences in America differ from the rest of the world, there is much to learn. What started out as a love of tea, has becoming a great opportunity to continue to broaden our own horizons, teach our son about the world, and share our interest with others.

If you like what you’ve seen please subscribe to our blog, follow @DominionTea on Twitter or reach out to @DavidSColey or @HillaryColey, the two primary authors.