We two – India and China – have a strange relation when it comes to tea. We have nothing in common except that tea came to India from China and was established by the British on a slavery model to outsmart China on its profitability.
Things have changed with the passing of time since 1828 when it was first commercially produced in India but little has changed as far as the model is concerned, and the burn is being felt by the tea garden workers. Now there is another sufferer – the small grower. Uncontrolled conversion of other crops to an easy and clean cash crop – tea – boosted the production an additional 25% with little emphasis on quality.
And just as it always happens when we have created the problem in the first place, now we are suffocating with uneconomic low-quality teas flooding the world market and undercutting is adding to our plethora of problems.
The key to all of these problems is recognising the leaf, manufacturing it accordingly and then selling it according to demand. For this we have to have modern machinery, proper research, and the application of brainpower in untraditional ways. Austin Hodge of Seven Cups, Prof. Su of Zhejiang Agricultural University, Elyse Peterson of Tealet and Jason McDonald of US Forum of Tea Growers, during their recent visits to India, stressed the need of these points and the recent Canadian Tea Association delegation was more interested in specialty teas then anything else.
We have to read the writing on the wall lest we hear more questions and read more articles everywhere of the unrest and closures. “When new evolves, old dies” is the way of nature and we must bury the past, which is easier said than done.
We are living in exciting time Rajiv. You are a critical part of this process as tea evolves and changes. Life is all about change. I’m delighted to hear about the important and positive changes that are happening around the globe. Having those who love the leaf guide this evolution is key to the progress that you’re helping to make. Thank you for all you’ve done and will continue to do to bring this ancient beverage into the 21st century.
Rajiv, thank you for continuing to promote quality tea and fairness for workers and farmers.
Welcome Michelle and Diane – shifting patterns of crops and their economic fallouts are such a macro economic exercise that no political solutions or corrections can be enforced. Our location which surrounds such a large tea growing areas of Bihar, Nepal, Darjeeling, Bengal and other north eastern states of Assam makes a very interesting and complicated study…probably I am lucky to be here.
In recognizing the leaf we are ‘acknowledging’ it and all the ‘energy’ behind the leaf — within the leaf — and from the leaf. Every one that touches the leaf leaves much more than their physical ‘thumbprint’ — their ‘energy’ thumbprint remains also. When we acknowledge this — we are truly recognizing and appreciating the leaf and all that it beholds.
This can only be done by appreciating all those that ‘touch’ the leaf.
six thousand years of tea making and brewing in China extracted that “energy” very rightfully and that created the wonder that tea is today Dharlene. Thanks for your new ‘dimension’ to tea