Where does black tea come from in the world?
Most often the nation - or nations - where the tea was grown is not mentioned at all - as if it had arrived in a packet by magic. Much of the black tea you can find on a supermarket shelf or online:
- Has no traceability.
- Is often labelled under a name like English Breakfast, or Royal Blend
- Is categorised by an added flavouring like ‘Mango Black Tea’
- Is identified only by the brand name.
Imagine if you were offered a bottle of wine and it just said “red”. Would you think it might be any good? Wouldn’t you be curious to know a bit more?
All our black teas are sourced from a farm and traceable to a farmer.
Black tea can come from anywhere tea (Camellia sinensis) is grown.
Black tea started in China and spread across Asia, East Africa, into the Americas and parts of the Southern Hemisphere, such as New Zealand.
Where does black tea comes from?
Our black tea comes directly from farmers in:
What are the best regions for black tea?
You will find some of the most celebrated black origins in our collection – Fujian in China, Darjeeling, and Sikkim in India - but not others, such as Assam. We haven’t yet found the best quality organically-grown Assam that nurtures the land and the people who look after it.
Some of our black teas come from forgotten or as yet unknown regions. What matters most is the farm, the farmer, the harvest, and the craft - not the name.
You can often make the most impact on struggling tea communities by choosing tea from lesser known regions. Their tea is also often even better- since they have no name to rely on.
Indian Cloud, for example, comes from Nayan and her family at the Lakyrsiew Tea Garden in Meghalaya, India. This might not be a region you have heard of, even though it is neighbours with some of India’s most famous tea-producing regions. The tea is every bit as good, if not better. It has the light and floral notes of a Darjeeling with the rich caramel and malty notes you get from the best Assam. The best of both worlds.
Of all the origins of our black tea Malawi has a particular place in our hearts at Rare Tea Company.
“I first visited Satemwa in 2008. It’s the oldest tea estate in Malawi, high on Thyolo Mountain in the Shire Highlands, and it’s family-run now by Alex Kay, eight generation Malawian, 3rd generation tea farmer. By 2009, Lost Malawi was on shelves in Waitrose. Many people do not know that much of the tea they drink comes from places like Malawi. The land, the labour, the extraordinary craft are given little value in a commodity market dominated by giant multinationals buying quantity over quality. Our mission is to change that - to build a value market for these remarkable teas, much like fine wine.” *
*Infused - Adventures in Tea, Henrietta Lovell pp.57–75
Why is the origin of black tea hidden?
- Where black tea comes from is hidden for a reason. The origins are kept obscure so that tea drinkers might not know the terrible conditions suffered in tea producing communities. In this way tea brands can maximise their profits without damaging their reputation.
- Most black tea is bought and sold through brokers at auction – so there is little to no connection with farmers. Marginalised tea communities are kept hidden so that consumers don’t know the true cost of their cheap teabags. And that cost is true poverty and low life expectancy - accepted as a norm by the tea industry at large.
We do not accept the status quo of the tea industry. At Rare Tea Company, we give you full traceability on our black teas.
We source all our teas direct from farmers we know and have personally visited. We pay prices set by the farmers, not brokers or commodity auctions.
