Assam Tea Tour

The history of Assam Tea goes back almost two centuries. It was a certain Robert Bruce from Scotland, an adventurer, who first discovered it for the West in 1823. Locally, tea was being consumed by the Singpho Tribe, who provided samples to Bruce for his scientific research. However, it was only in the early 1830s that proper examination concluded that the Assam variety was different from the Chinese variety of tea. Soon after in 1839, at the time when the West had just begun their love affair with tea, Britain allowed companies to rent lands for growing tea. More than a decade later, when the first batch of Assam-grown tea reached the markets of London, consumers were deeply impressed, and thus began the tea industry of Assam. The colonial days saw tea growers who were an adventurous breed. They introduced a laid-back lifestyle in the region, which involved staying in luxurious bungalows and engaging in social and sports events which occurred in clubhouses. Though today such a lifestyle is disappearing due to the global competitive market, the tea plantations still reminisce of their colonial past. After all, the state of Assam remains the world's largest tract of land growing tea with more than eight hundred tea estates today that appear to cover the landscape in continuous greenery.

Starting in the small tea-growing riverside town of Dibrugarh somewhere in the far-eastern plains of the country, you will be staying in a charming colonial-era planter's bungalow run by the prestigious Jalan group. Surrounded by unending miles of lush tea plantations, you will be visiting a factory to learn about tea production or perhaps join tribal ladies to pluck some fresh tea leaves. Moving on to the vast fertile plains of central Assam, the journey will reach the Gatoonga Tea Estate of the renowned Barooah family which traces its lineage to the 19th-century born Siva Prasad Barooah; a legend in these lands. He was a tea planter, philanthropist, politician, and humanist, and also pioneered the way for Assamese journalism by publishing the state's first daily newspaper. Located in the interiors amidst lush surroundings and spread over a large area, your stay at the estate will be in another charming century-old colonial property that finely displays the influence of British patrician living. At the nearby Tocklai Tea Research Institute, the top scientific center dedicated to tea growing in the world, you will get an opportunity to meet students and faculty members, and thus learn more about the various issues and progressions of the tea growing community.

There are a lot of other activities to keep you busy, such as visits to local markets, monuments, temples, and villages. Depending on the river conditions and season, you might also get a chance to go on a sunset boat ride on the Brahmaputra to visit the island of Majuli, a hotbed of ancient Assamese monastic culture, and explore a nature sanctuary. The cuisine will at times be exotic, consisting of tribal, Assamese, and Indian. There is also a chance for an informal cooking lesson with organic produce grown locally.