Where is tea grown?
Though tea originated in China thousands of years ago, commercial tea cultivation is now being practiced in dozens of countries around the world. Below is a list of countries we carry tea from, which focuses on the more popular/traditional origins. Not all of these are the largest producers, but in both historic and current terms they are the most significant.
Chinese Tea Regions
China is the largest tea producer in the world. Each region of China is so uniquely different from the others, that it’s better to consider them as individual locations rather than being lumped together as “Chinese."
Sri Lanka Tea Regions
Tea from Sri Lanka has always been primarily driven by export and still goes by its colonial name of “Ceylon” since this is the brand name it was built upon.
Indian Tea Regions
Though other types of tea are produced in India, the overwhelming focus from both a level of volume and expertise is black tea.
Japanese Tea Regions
In Japan there are three main tea producing regions: Shizuoka Prefecture, Kyoto Prefecture, Kagoshima Prefecture. Other less popular tea growing areas are: Fukuoka, Saga, Miyazaki, Nara, and Mie.
Kenyan Tea Regions
Kenya is the largest tea exporter in the world. Most of the tea produced there is inexpensive CTC black tea for export. But there is increasing efforts to produce high quality orthodox tea, particularly in the Nandi Hills of western Kenya.