Its fertile soils located on well-drained slopes with geography that brings two monsoons per year with periods of fog and humid, cold weather, allow the sinensis variety to thrive.

The British had been using the area as a hill station and, as they had been seeking to create a source of tea outside of China, shipped seeds there, as well as various locations across southern India, for experimental plantings.

However, the plantations were largely operated by retired European military and civil servants, with labour from the native tribal people, all with little knowledge of tea production.

[6] As the economies of the Soviet countries began to waver later in the 1980s, the Nilgiri Planters' Association led efforts to encourage estates and small growers to reform cultivation and processing practices to accommodate the preferences of the Western market.

Located within the Western Ghats mountain range and the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, the Nilgiri tea growing areas range between 1,000 and 2,500 metres in elevation and are exposed to the Southwest Monsoon weather from the Malabar Coast from June to September, followed by the Northeast Monsoon in October to November.

The resulting alternating periods of fog and direct sunlight, as well as the South Western Ghats montane rain forests soils, described as lateritic loam,[7] on the hillsides provides the high elevation drainage and conditions needed for Camellia sinensis var.

The small holders, typically under 1 hectare, vary widely in their practices, such as soil management, use of shade trees, ground cover, fertilizers and pesticides, plant age, etc.

The first leaves after the dormancy are some of the plant's most flavourful as they contain a higher concentration of defensive compounds secreted during the cold weather.

There are numerous independent or cooperatively-owned processing facilities ("bought leaf factories") that buy green leaves from the small farms, with price and quality levels prescribed by the Tea Board of India.

[2] Nilgiri tea is known for its briskness, referring to lively fragrant flavours, a quality attributed to its climatic growing conditions.