The REAL Story Behind India’s Tea Addiction! | Shantanu Jain | Feb 2024 — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00J
2. 0:02[Music]
3. 0:15JRA Oh India practically runs on tea and
4. 0:21history fascinating I just had to make a
5. 0:24video on
6. 0:28it India
7. 0:37and
8. 0:38challenges
9. 0:43Market the average Indian drinks two
10. 0:45cups of tea a day even though we are the
11. 0:48second largest producer of tea we end up
12. 0:50consuming 80% of it Ki I know coffee is
13. 0:55quickly taking over as the world's
14. 0:57preferred
15. 0:58beverage
16. 1:02but India still is a tea drinking
17. 1:05Nation 64% of IND
18. 1:15prefers no te hasn't been around forever
19. 1:18it was only in the early 1800s that tea
20. 1:21came to
21. 1:27India before we see how te came to India
22. 1:31let us understand how te came into
23. 1:33existence and no te was not even born in
24. 1:35Britain it was born in
25. 1:39China chai
26. 1:41China yes like most things this aromatic
27. 1:45drink was also first brewed in China and
28. 1:48by pure accident this tale goes back to
29. 1:532732 BC there lived a Chinese emperor
30. 1:57and a herbalist named Shen n one fine
31. 2:00day he accidentally left some unknown
32. 2:03leaves from a wild Tree in boiling water
33. 2:06result a very pleasant aroma so much so
34. 2:09that he got curious and began digging
35. 2:11into the leaves little did he know he
36. 2:14had just discovered the drink that was
37. 2:16soon going to take over the world F te's
38. 2:19popularity spread across China like wild
39. 2:22flower as tea plantations spread
40. 2:25throughout China Tea Merchants became
41. 2:27rich and elegant tea sets became a
42. 2:29wealth status
43. 2:30tea became so popular in China that a
44. 2:33Chinese writer luou Yu wrote his book
45. 2:36about tea yes a book dedicated to just
46. 2:41tea after a few years some Japanese mons
47. 2:44brought tea tree seeds from China to
48. 2:46Japan on their way back from China
49. 2:49pilgrimage soon tea became Japan's
50. 2:51favorite drink as well in fact Japanese
51. 2:54mongs had a super interesting way of
52. 2:56making tea rather than using whole green
53. 2:59tea leaves they used powdered green tea
54. 3:01leaves to create a froy tea drink today
55. 3:04we know this drink as
56. 3:07matcha by the 1660s he reached
57. 3:16Britain in the
58. 3:181660s Portuguese princess married into
59. 3:21the British royal family and along with
60. 3:24her came her tea drinking habits the
61. 3:27royal family soon began drinking tea
62. 3:30in no time te reached the streets of
63. 3:32Britain and this obsession with t was
64. 3:35training their treasury why because te
65. 3:38was being imported from
66. 3:42China during that time the East India
67. 3:45Company had a monopoly on tea imports
68. 3:47from China after all tea was the top
69. 3:50item on the country's shopping
70. 3:58list
71. 4:04[Music]
72. 4:06main but the problem was that China was
73. 4:09not really keen on importing anything
74. 4:11from Britain this meant trouble for the
75. 4:14British they had to do something and
76. 4:17they did the British finally found a
77. 4:20product that China wanted to consume
78. 4:23opium
79. 4:25a it took control of the market for
80. 4:28opium in Bengal it encouraged Farmers to
81. 4:31grow more and incentivized production or
82. 4:34maybe they forced them to production of
83. 4:36opium increased the British exported it
84. 4:39to China and China got
85. 4:42addicted it for that opium Imports shot
86. 4:46up from 200 chests carrying around 63
87. 4:49and a half kg of the drug in 1729 to
88. 4:511,000 in 1767 that's a 5x jump and then
89. 4:56to 10,000 chests perom between 18 20 to
90. 5:031830 by 1838 the Imports Rose to 40,000
91. 5:09chests at one point the export Revenue
92. 5:12was enough to fund the tea Imports but
93. 5:15alas this only lasted until China banned
94. 5:19the trade of OPM due to its addictive
95. 5:21properties and health
96. 5:23concerns
97. 5:27fin now the were back to square
98. 5:33one they could not let their economy die
99. 5:36due to a drink so they turned to
100. 5:40smuggling yes the British started
101. 5:43smuggling opium into China through
102. 5:44country traders in no time China had
103. 5:47opium addicts again this worried the
104. 5:50Chinese government so what next the
105. 5:53Opium
106. 5:55Wars not one but two Opium Wars this
107. 5:59series of the OPM Wars can be a whole
108. 6:01new
109. 6:05episode Wars are actually super
110. 6:09disruptive Russia Ukraine and palestin
111. 6:12isra
112. 6:13War
113. 6:15and britishers started facing problems
114. 6:19they did not want to depend on China for
115. 6:21tea obviously countries
116. 6:28War dependency on China for tea became a
117. 6:31huge problem and
118. 6:34solution India now they had to do just
119. 6:38one thing grow tea in India the only
120. 6:42problem the British knew nothing about
121. 6:44tea production so they saw only way out
122. 6:48chury
123. 6:49theft the East India Company contracted
124. 6:52a Scottish articulture Robert Fortune to
125. 6:55steal Chinese tea practices yes steel
126. 6:58that was their master
127. 7:07plan so Fortune entered China as a
128. 7:09Chinese citizen and slowly took note of
129. 7:12Chinese tea production practices and
130. 7:14what he discovered in China was
131. 7:16fascinating Fortune discovered that all
132. 7:18teas were made from the same plant it
133. 7:21was only different oxidation processes
134. 7:24that create different varieties of tea
135. 7:26now fortune knew what he had to do he
136. 7:29simply stole some tea plants and sent
137. 7:31them to East India Company back in India
138. 7:34the British started
139. 7:36celebrating after all they had found a
140. 7:39way to end China's Monopoly they
141. 7:41immediately got to work and sold these
142. 7:43seeds of power but to their surprise
143. 7:46this experiment failed turns out Robert
144. 7:50Fortune missed one key element for the
145. 7:52proper cultivation of tea climate back
146. 7:56in China Fortune tried even harder he
147. 7:59went to Chinese monks and temples to
148. 8:01learn about good quality tea he learned
149. 8:03all about various harvesting techniques
150. 8:05and Brewing methods Robert Fortune grew
151. 8:08more confident and with all his
152. 8:10learnings Was preparing for his return
153. 8:12back to India he brought the dah Hong PA
154. 8:15variety of tea which was the most
155. 8:17expensive in all of China he putted the
156. 8:20plants in soil and enclosed them in a
157. 8:22glass case this would help the plant
158. 8:24survive the long journey to India
159. 8:25without damage back in India the British
160. 8:28were eagerly w waiting for Fortune's
161. 8:30return these plants were carefully soed
162. 8:33in the foothills of Himalayas soon after
163. 8:36they started to sprout and flar and this
164. 8:39marked the foundation of the Great
165. 8:41Indian tea industry from daring to Assam
166. 8:44to Himachal Pradesh India turned out to
167. 8:46be the perfect destination for growing
168. 8:48tea by 1888 Indian tea exports to
169. 8:51Britain overtook Chinese tea exports
170. 8:54everything was
171. 8:56great
172. 8:58but
173. 9:00if there's one thing the British loved
174. 9:01more than tea it was cold Hard Cash
175. 9:05while they had created enough Supply
176. 9:07there was very little demand for tea in
177. 9:10India mostly zamindars and royalties
178. 9:12enjoyed tea common people not so much so
179. 9:16to create demand within India so that
180. 9:19Indian tea producers could sell to
181. 9:21Indian consumers the East India te
182. 9:23company started huge marketing
183. 9:28campaigns tea was given free of cost
184. 9:31with milk it was brewed fresh in front
185. 9:33of people companies like Brook Bond
186. 9:36launched tea cards to entice Indian
187. 9:39customers but adoption
188. 9:42increase when we dug deeper we found a
189. 9:45very interesting
190. 9:57ins so so
191. 9:59British let's make this seem safer for
192. 10:02Indians to drink
193. 10:06and which is basically boiling the tea
194. 10:09came into
195. 10:12existence local existing Behavior
196. 10:15comb
197. 10:18option amazingit choury I wish I was
198. 10:22alive at that time just to witness this
199. 10:24change in Behavior soon after Ginger
200. 10:28Tulsi and other ingredients were added
201. 10:30to the brewing tea
202. 10:33andai this put a stop to India's
203. 10:35long-standing dislike of tea and gave
204. 10:37shape to the idea of different flavors
205. 10:39of chai like my favorite Masala chai so
206. 10:44interesting
207. 10:47history current market and future
208. 10:50potential India ranks second in terms of
209. 10:53production after China obviously and
210. 10:57Indian tea is loved across the world
211. 10:59world according to a 2018 report 6.37
212. 11:04lakh hectares of land production India
213. 11:08this is almost nine times the land area
214. 11:10of
215. 11:11Singapore Assam and West Bengal produce
216. 11:1483% of India's
217. 11:17tea Assam alone has 800 big tea Estates
218. 11:20and more than one and a half lakh small
219. 11:22Tea Gardens the biggest he producing
220. 11:25states in the South are Tamil Nadu
221. 11:27Kerala and Karnataka which contribute to
222. 11:29the rest 17 20% of the nation's overall
223. 11:34production production grow over the
224. 11:38years that is because of
225. 11:42theic that in India is not just a drink
226. 11:46it is a Lifeline for over 1.1 CR people
227. 11:49in India from an employment generation
228. 11:51perspective also a interesting statistic
229. 11:53here women constitute 51% of the total
230. 11:57Workforce in the tea industry
231. 12:01important the livelihoods of all these
232. 12:04workers are in danger challenges
233. 12:08indry the cost of producing tea has been
234. 12:11rising since 1999 due to increasing
235. 12:14labor costs workers wages have increased
236. 12:16almost 200% in the last decade on the
237. 12:19other hand prices have only gone up by
238. 12:2230% plus the productivity of tea has
239. 12:26also been declining due to climate
240. 12:27change growing tea is like cooking a
241. 12:30delicate recipe it just needs the right
242. 12:32amount of ingredients according to
243. 12:35experts there are four ingredients for
244. 12:38tea to rise and shine a distinct
245. 12:40temperature range between 15 to 23° C
246. 12:44relative humidity well dispersed
247. 12:47rainfall and a lot of sunshine hours but
248. 12:50climate change is now disrupting this
249. 12:52mix of ingredients with increased
250. 12:54temperatures uneven monsoons and too
251. 12:57much sunlight climate change is cooking
252. 13:00no less than a disaster result quality
253. 13:03of the te produced is reducing which is
254. 13:06directly impacting our te exports
255. 13:09exports in April to November 2022 were
256. 13:12at $562 million while in the same period
257. 13:15April to November 2023 this was at $531
258. 13:19million but low productivity is not the
259. 13:22only reason for low exports geopolitical
260. 13:25disturbances especially in the Middle
261. 13:27East and Ukraine and subdued economic
262. 13:30conditions in Western Europe and other
263. 13:31parts of the world are impacting trade
264. 13:34Iran which is a major market for India
265. 13:36which contributes to 20% of the total te
266. 13:38exports is also seeing a decline this
267. 13:41decline in export Revenue can mean lower
268. 13:44wages and job losses especially in top
269. 13:47te producing states like Assam and West
270. 13:49Bengal domestic demand to interesting
271. 13:53pattern while te's mostly consumed at
272. 13:56tea stalls in India New Age brands are
273. 13:58also entering the market with their own
274. 14:00offerings and N they are not offering
275. 14:03the regular narali chai these brands are
276. 14:06Brewing new trends in India's tea
277. 14:08industry with their tea
278. 14:17[Music]
279. 14:21premixes with increasing urbanization
280. 14:24and hrid Lifestyles people don't have
281. 14:26the time to make themselves a hot cup of
282. 14:28tea
283. 14:29so premix solves a lot of their problems
284. 14:31these brands are also bitting brg on
285. 14:33premiumization and customization with
286. 14:36eco-friendly and luxurious packaging T
287. 14:39boxes are also becoming very popular
288. 14:41gifting items plus they're also helping
289. 14:44smaller tea Estates survive the
290. 14:46ethically sourced leaves from these T
291. 14:49Estates and then the use of eco-friendly
292. 14:51and sustainable methods of packaging and
293. 14:53delivery is creating a new market
294. 14:56altogether whether we consume tea from
295. 14:58the new age Brands local tea stalls or
296. 15:00the magical hands of our moms one thing
297. 15:03is
298. 15:04clear India practically runs on
299. 15:13tea so are you team tea or team coffee
300. 15:17comments if you are team tea let me know
301. 15:20which brand and if you are team
302. 15:26coffee until next time bye-bye
303. 15:29share like
304. 15:30comment don't miss
305. 15:32that see you in the next
306. 15:36[Music]
307. 15:40video