Nowadays, the cultivation of tea is a huge industry. Thousands work in the fields and estates where tea trees are grown.

The tea plant is a flowering evergreen shrub that has distinctive dark green leaves. All tea comes from variants of the tea plant and the differences in tea are due to geographic location, the time of picking and the way the leaf is processed after picking. Just like coffee, tea only grows in certain regions of the world. It is produced commercially in the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the globe.

The tea plant grows best in a warm and wet climate, at altitudes ranging from 1000 to 7000 feet above sea level. The highest tea tree can reach up to 20 meters, but to make harvesting easier they are kept to a height of less than 1 meter. The trees have a flat top called a plucking table. Tea plucking is a labour-intensive operation often carried out by women. Whilst plucking, only the buds and top two leaves are taken. They are collected in a basket carried on the harvester’s back. A skilled plucker can gather as much as 35 kg of fresh tea leaves in a single day, which makes about 9 kilos of dried manufactured tea.

The fresh tea leaves are taken to a factory on the tea estate where they are turned into tea.

Tea is auctioned to tea merchants. These merchants then have to blend the teas.

Blending balances the different characteristics of the individual teas.

After being blended or flavoured, the teas are bagged into “tea bags” or sold loose.