An ancient and noble drink with a whole palette of various tastes has been present on our tables for more than one hundred years. The homeland of tea is China, but today tea bush of various varieties is grown in other countries.
Famous tea plantations in China
Some scholars identify Northern Burma and Annam, located in Vietnam, as the birthplace of tea, but most are convinced that this drink originated from China.
Zhejiang Province is one of the most important and ancient areas of Chinese tea growing: now a quarter of the total harvest is harvested here. Almost the entire territory of Zhejiang, with the exception of the coastal islands and several counties, is a continuous tea plantation. The soil and climate are favorable for the cultivation of the tea plant, mainly green tea of various brands is planted, but the red and black tea varieties also grow.
To the south of Zhejiang province, off the coast of the East China Sea, there is Fujian province, whose inhabitants grew tea during the Song dynasty. A wide variety of teas are produced here, including oolong, baichu, green tea, black long tea.
Another historical homeland of Chinese tea is the Hunan province, located in the central region of China. The production of local tea in the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries exceeded half of the production in the country. The suitable climate and good land made it possible to set up tea plantations on the mountainous terrain, mainly black long tea, as well as green and red.
World tea producers
The second largest country in terms of tea production is India. Exports prevail here over domestic consumption, with black tea being the main cultivated variety. Indian tea is characterized by rich taste and color, but inferior in aroma to Chinese.
Ceylon teas growing in Sri Lanka are famous all over the world. The best crop is considered to be from highland plantations, the rest is defined as average in quality. Black and green teas are grown.
In Japan, only green tea is grown and for domestic consumption; small quantities are exported to the United States and Europe.
Medium and low quality teas are also produced in Africa, Turkey, Iran, Indochina. In fact, they are not found on the Russian market.
Growing tea in Russia
The only type of tea grown in Russia is Krasnodar Tea, which is now called Matsesta Tea. Russian tea plantations are considered the northernmost in the world, they are located in the vicinity of the city of Sochi.
Attempts to grow tea in Russia have been made since the end of the 19th century, but only in 1925 large-scale plantations were laid in the Krasnodar Territory, which by 1940 had reached an area of 700 hectares.
Subsequently, tea plantations were established in the Stavropol Territory, Transcarpathia and Kazakhstan, but the results seemed unprofitable to the management, in contrast to the Sochi production.
After the collapse of the USSR, the plantations fell into decay. Only in 2006, the production of Russian tea was resumed: at present, the plantation area is 180 hectares, and the former "Krasnodar tea" was named "Matsesta tea" or "Matsesta tea".
