Indonesia

Comprising almost 17,000 islands, Indonesia hosts a variety of diverse cultures, each particular to a specific region. And across the country, there is also great variety in the way tea is enjoyed. In eastern Java, for example, sweetened, strong tea is preferred, while the people of Sumatra and western Java have no taste for sweetened tea. Indonesian households usually keep several varieties of tea leaves on hand, such as black tea, jasmine tea and green tea, but black tea and jasmine tea are the everyday favorites. In Indonesia, people do not have milk with tea because of the traditional belief that milk spoils the original taste of the tea. Green tea was brought to Indonesia from Japan by the Dutch in the 17th century, and today the island of Java has plantations devoted to growing green tea. In a novel use of black tea, the people of central Java, after letting the tea stand overnight, use it to wash their hair to blacken it.