Tea production in Bangladesh tea began in the Mulnicherra Estate in Sylhet in 1857. The Surma River Valley in the Sylhet region emerged as the centre of tea cultivation in Eastern Bengal. Plantations also flourished in Lower Tippera (modern Comilla) and Panchagarh which in North Bengal.Panchagarh is the only third tea zone in Bangladesh and most demanded teas cultivated here. Tea was a major export of British Bengal. The Assam Bengal Railway served as a lifeline for the industry, transporting tea from growers in the Surma and Brahmaputra Valleys to exporters in the Port of Chittagong. The Chittagong Tea Auction was established in 1949
Nilgiri tea After processing (which converts the green leaf into 'made tea'), most is sold through regularly scheduled auctions in Coonoor, Coimbatore and Kochi. More than 50% of Nilgiri tea is exported, and usually finds its way into blends used for tea bags. Data is unreliable on the precise proportion of Nilgiri tea that is actually exported. However, Neilson and Pritchard ("op cit") suggest that at least 70% of South Indian tea is exported, and the Nilgiris constitutes more than half of all South Indian production. The expensive hand-sorted, full-leaf versions of the tea like the Orange Pekoe (O.P.) are highly sought