Tea culture Assam tea is known for its robust taste and dark colour, and Nilgiri tea is dark, intensely aromatic and flavoured. Assam produces the largest quantity of Tea in India, mostly of the CTC variety, and is one of the biggest suppliers of major international brands such as Lipton and Tetley. The Tetley Brand, formerly British owned and one of the largest, is now owned by the Indian Tata Tea Limited company. On April 21, 2012 the Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission (India), Montek Singh Ahluwalia, said that tea would be declared as national drink by April 2013. Speaking on the
Kangra tea Kangra tea Kangra tea is a tea from the Kangra district in Himachal Pradesh, India. Both black tea and green tea have been produced in the Kangra Valley since the mid-19th century. Kangra tea was given the Geographical Indication status in 2005. Tea was first grown in the Kangra region in the mid-19th century. After a feasibility survey in 1848 showed the area of being suitable for tea plantation, a Chinese variety of "Camellia sinensis" was planted across the region. The production turned out to be successful in Palampur and Dharamshala, despite failing in other locations. By the 1880s, the