Tea Growing Countries

 

 

"Cha" grows mainly between the sub-tropic to temperate zone requiring the low acidity soil. When the leaves get mature, they prefer the high humid climate and receiving fogs in the morning and at night. Once those criteria are satisfied, tea can be grow pretty much anywhere. 80% of the tea growing countries are located in Asia, and 15% are in Africa. India is the largest tea growing country, and Assam tea is their most famous produced tea which takes 30 % of total tea production. China is the second largest tea growing country before Kenya. The country of Kenia is located on the equator, and tea fields are mostly in mountain area with rain forest climate. Next is Sri Lanka and they also produce Assam tea. The tea fields are usually located on the hilly side of the mountains, and the harvest starts from the bottom of the mountains and gradually move up to the upper area. Harvest continues all through the year. Uba tea is also well known tea produced in Sri Lanka. After Sri Lanka, it comes Indonesia, then Turkey, and Japan. Gruziya is a small country looking out the black sea, and it used to be a part of the Soviet Union. When Gruziya was still a part of the Soviet Union, expanding tea cultivation was proceeded by the government. The latitude is same as Iwate prefecture in Japan, and Gruziya is considered to be the most North area for tea cultivation. Iran is also famous for growing black tea, and Vietnam also produce some amount of green tea. Surprisingly, one of the finest quality tea is grown in New Zealand.

(Shigeru Yokouchi)