Coffee dominates tea in terms of the number of cups consumed per day in the United States.
But tea is second on the list.
In fact, about 80 percent of American households have tea in their cupboard, according to Teausa.com.
What exactly is tea?
Tea in the realest form is made by boiling leaves of the plant called Camellia sinensis.
Informally, tea is the word to describe any herbs or botanicals that are boiled with water.
This includes herbal tea, which is a brew of fruits, bark, flowers, or roots to produce a desired effect.
In this article, I will talk about the true form of tea, the Camellia-sinensis plant.
Do you want to learn more about tea, which has been consumed by people for thousands of years?
Read on to learn about tea production, consumption facts and statistics, and uses of the tea plant.
By Andrew.
Published on 2022.09.04
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Tea Cultivation: How Exactly is it Produced?
The cultivation of tea is a long process.
Camellia sinensis, a type of tropical evergreen shrub, is grown on smallholdings, about one and half acres in size, or on estates, which are cover hundreds of acres.
The small bush grows to be about three feet tall and has pointed leaves.
Cuttings or clones are parceled out into nursery beds until they are ready to be grown.
They are planted about five feet apart from each other and it is best that they are grown in a warm and humid climate in areas that see about forty inches of rainfall every year and anywhere from at sea level to about 7,000 feet.
Every one to two weeks, the leaves of the bushes are plucked in a laborious process.
Tea bushes regrow their leaves more easily at lower altitudes.
The tea is then carried by the plucker in a bag or box to a collection point where it is then weighed and subsequently sent to a factory to be processed.
A good plucker should be able to pluck 65 to 75 pounds of tea every day. This is all according to UK Tea and Infusions Association
So far, you have learned about the process by which tea is produced.
Now it is time to talk about tea production around the world and some of the more interesting tea statistics.
Tea Production in the World
Tea is produced all around the world, mostly in warm and humid climates.
As the population and number of tea consumers in the world increases, so does the production of tea, year after year. I have some statistics on tea production.
Tea Production Statistics: How do the Top Countries Stack Up?
The average annual world tea production is about 2.9 million tons. How do countries around the world stack up?
Read on to learn more about the top tea producing countries
The Asian and African continents dominate world tea production. According to Scienceagri.com, Asia produced about 87 percent of the world’s supply of tea in 2019 and Africa produced about 11 percent.
Here are the top producers and exactly how much they produced in 2019.
- China – 2,777,200 tons
- India – 1,390,080 tons
- Kenya – 458, 850 tons
- Sri Lanka – 300,120 tons
- Vietnam – 269,281 tons
What about tea consumption statistics?
How many cups are consumed around the world and what countries drink the most tea?
Tea Consumption Statistics
I find these statistics to be astounding.
The first of which is the fact that 3.7 billion cups of tea are consumed around the world every day (Livemint.com)
That’s a total of 3,000,000 tons of tea per year (O-cha.net).
- China is the leader in the world in terms of most tea consumed. They drink about four million gallons of tea every year.
- India is second on the list, drinking about almost 2 million gallons of tea every year.
- Russia is third, with about 1.5 million gallons consumed every year.
Green Tea Production in the World
What about global green tea production?
First, what is green tea? Green tea is still made from the Camellia sinensis bush but it is specifically classified as green because of the way it is produced.
Green tea leaves are unoxidized and they are the least processed type of tea leaves.
You might be wondering about green tea production in the world. Here are some interesting statistics.
According to the Food and Agricultural Association of the United Nations, with an average annual growth rate of 7.1 percent, the total global green tea production is expected to be 750,981 tons in 2023.
- China dominates and will continue to dominate the green tea market with 458,579 tons to be produced in 2023.
- Vietnam is second on the list the world’s top green tea producers with 251,024 tons to be produced.
- Next is Indonesia with 18,500 tons.
- And fourth on the list is Japan, which is expected to produce 7,631 tons of green tea in 2023.
Uses of the Tea Plant: A Powerful Medicine
The use of the tea plant for medicinal purposes has been around for thousands of years. Drinking tea has many health benefits.
Tea Increases Energy Levels
Tea contains a reasonable amount of caffeine, which, when consumed, makes you feel more energetic and awake.
It is a healthier choice than caffeine consumed from coffee and soda, for example.
When people consume tea, a more continuous energy is experienced, rather than the strong boost and then subsequent crash felt when consuming energy drinks and/or coffee.
Tea contains I-theanine, which produces a calm healing effect, causing you to be more focused and relaxed without those feelings of jitteriness. This is all according to Artfultea.com.
Health Benefits of the Flavonoids in Tea
The flavonoids in tea, such as catechins, are antioxidant chemicals present that have a biological effect on the body.
These chemicals have anti-inflammatory properties, and have been shown to reduce cell damage in the body and thus reduce the risk of getting cancer.
They also improve the health of your heart and your digestive system, have a powerful effect on your cardiovascular health, including lowering blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar and may even help you lose weight.
Conclusion
Tea is the most popular beverage in the world. The lengthy process by which it is produced is worth it, as it has many health benefits.
Due to these facts, the numbers about tea production in the world are astounding and tea will continue to saturate the global beverage market.
It is time for you to jump in and explore the wonderful world of tea.
Who knows, maybe you will switch from drinking coffee everyday to drinking tea?
Try it for yourself and establish a new daily routine.
Photos by cegoh and congerdesign
