Indian tea culture
Traditional Indian kitchens have long utilised the medicinal benefits[7][better source needed] offered by various plants and spices such as holy basil (Tulsi), cardamom (Elaichi), pepper (Kali Mirch), liquorice (Mulethi), mint (Pudina), etc., and traditionally, teas made with these plant leaves or spices have been in use for centuries for maladies ranging from the serious to the trifling.
Records re-emerge during the first century CE, with stories of the Buddhist monks Bodhidharma and Gan Lu, and their involvement with tea.
Research, such as Robert Sealy's 1958 book A Revision of the Genus Camilla, suggests that tea is indigenous to the Indian subcontinent.
[8] [better source needed] But there is no substantial documentation of the history of tea drinking in the Indian subcontinent for the pre-colonial period.
The next recorded reference to tea in India after the 12th century dates to 1598, when a Dutch traveler, Jan Huyghen van Linschoten, noted in a book that the leaves of the Assam tea plant were used by Indians as a vegetable, eaten with garlic and oil, and as a drink.
[12] In an 1877 pamphlet written by Samuel Baildon, and published by W. Newman and Co. of Calcutta, Baildon wrote, "...various merchants in Calcutta were discussing the chance of imported China seeds thriving in Assam, when a native from the province present, seeing some tea said, 'We have the plant growing wild in our jungles.'"
Writing in The Cambridge World History of Food (Kiple & Ornelas 2000:715–716), Weisburger & Comer write: The tea cultivation begun there [India] in the nineteenth century by the British, however, has accelerated to the point that today India is listed as the world's leading producer, its 715, 000 tons well ahead of China's 540, 000 tons, and of course, the teas of Assam, Ceylon (from the island nation known as Sri Lanka), and Darjeeling are world famous.
However, because Indians average half a cup daily on per capita basis, fully 70 percent of India's immense crop is consumed locally.
[15] However, the per capita consumption of tea in India remains a modest 750 grams per person every year due to the large population base and high poverty levels.
[citation needed] Darjeeling tea is grown at elevations ranging from 600 to 2000 metres above sea level with over 300 cm rainfall on average.
[19] According to National Sample Survey Organisation data, India consumes 15 times more tea than coffee.
Post the success of coffee chains of Barista and Cafe Coffee day, the tea stall has become a part of the urban landscape with several tea themed cafe chains taking root in metro cities in recent years.
[21] Tea is now a cultural institution, even celebrated as in the recent art exhibition titled "Chai Wallah and other stories" by the artist Vijay Gille.
[23] The phrase "Chai-Pani" literally meaning, tea and water, is used to offer welcome drinks and facilitate guests in houses of India.
In Southern India, Masala Chai is not popular; instead, tea brewed with milk and sugar is the prime beverage.
In Hindi speaking north India, popular tea brews are Masala Chai, Kadak Chai (typically a feature of the mountain community of North India, this is a very strongly brewed tea, almost to the point of bitterness), Malai Mar Ke Chai (where a generous dollop of full fat cream is spooned into the cup of tea) are some of the more popular variations.
