History of tea in India Upper Assam; in 1840, the Assam Tea Company began the commercial production of tea in the region, run by indentured servitude of the local inhabitants. [This tea was not for export - dis ambiguities needed] Beginning in the 1850s, the tea industry rapidly expanded, consuming vast tracts of land for tea plantations. By the turn of the century, Assam became the leading tea producing region in the world. India was the top producer of tea for nearly a century, but recently China has overtaken India as the top tea producer due to increased land availability. Indian tea companies have acquired
Tea production in Kenya production has been reported to make use of child labor according to the U.S. Department of Labor's report on the worst forms of child labor in 2013 and more recently according to the Department's "List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor". Kenya's tea growing regions are endowed with ideal climate; tropical, volcanic red soils; well distributed rainfall ranging between 1200 mm to 1400mm per annum; long sunny days are some of the climatic features of the Tea growing regions. Tea is planted in an area of over 157,720 hectares, with production of about 345,817 metric tonnes of