British Tea Company India
It all begins with our tea master lalith lenadora and his team.
British tea company india. Black tea mixed with milk and sugar became a staple in britain s industrialised cities and companies such as the east india company grew up around the import of tea leaves into the united kingdom. In the 18th century tea trade black tea was referred to as bohea traditionally the bohea variety of black tea came from the wuyi. The company lost massive profits from tea smuggling and found itself in an increasingly dire financial situation by the end of the 18th century. Meet our tea master.
In 1837 the first english tea garden was established at chabua in upper assam. East india company english company formed in 1600 for the exploitation of trade with east and southeast asia and india. In the decades leading up to pitt the younger s commutation act tea smuggling had really hit the profits of the east india company. The east india company was the first company to record the chinese usage of orange flavoured tea which led to the development of earl grey tea.
In addition to india the british east india company had extensive dealings in china because of the lucrative opium trade. The east india company controlled india until 1857. Starting as a monopolistic trading body the company became involved in politics and acted as an agent of british imperialism in india from the early 18th century to the mid 19th century. In 1826 the british east india company took over the region from the ahom kings through the yandaboo treaty.
In 1840 the assam tea company began the commercial production of tea in the region. Needing to increase profits and offload the surplus tea that the company had accumulated during the worst years of the smuggling it asked the british government for permission to export direct to america which at this time was still a british colony. The tea destroyed during the boston tea party was described as bohea type. From the tender age of 18 as a trainee tea planter lalith has built his expertise in tea over a 35 year career rising to general manager of 22 estates in sri lanka before joining the east india company.
By the late 1800s china was producing 250 000 tonnes of tea with 134 000 tonnes exported to countries such as britain.