When you wake up in the morning and have your early morning cup, do you ever stop and thing where your tea has come from? Tea is produced in many different countries in the world, from the obvious to the less so. In fact, tea worldwide has become one of the biggest commodities.
The old phrase ‘for all the tea in China’ suggested that China as a country has a lot of tea, and while China may be the birthplace of the tea brew, it is no longer the biggest supplier of blended tea. China has been overtaken by India in terms of production. India now produces approximately a third of all of the tea worldwide, making it the largest producer of tea in the world.
However, while India produces a lot of tea, it only exports around 50% of it as India loves its tea!
Other tea producing countries include Sri Lanka, which produces tea known as Ceylon Tea. The best tea in Sri Lanka is grown high in the mountains, because tea grown at higher altitude is considered a better tea brew.
Japan is also a large producer of tea, but like India the demand for tea in Japan means that much of it is consumed in Japan. Only 2% of Japanese tea ever leaves its shores. Equally protective over its tea is Taiwan, where just 2% of tea grown is exported.
