Introduction:Want to drink truly authentic single-origin Assam tea from small gardens but not sure who to trust? This article takes you into the world of Assam tea farmers through the real experiences of the co-founders of Folk Tea, showing how they’re reviving the true essence of tea through varietal experimentation and transparent supply chains. Along with sharing tea selection insights, we also recommend trusted buying channels, helping you go from coffee enthusiast to tea connoisseur.
Assam black tea has long been known for its bold and robust flavor, but with so many premium tea brands on the market, which ones are truly from small gardens and preserve the original taste? Starting with the personal journey of Folk Tea’s co-founders, Bidisha and Subhasish, this article delves into the heart of Assam’s tea culture and helps you understand what “authentic” Assam tea really means—from the tea farmers’ perspective.
Bidisha’s motivation to deeply explore Assam tea culture was simple: “Due to information asymmetry, high-quality tea has never truly become part of the daily lives of local working-class or middle-class families.” Subhasish also admitted on the official website that if he had actively explored the tea gardens and asked more questions when he was younger, his understanding of tea would be much deeper than it is now. The two only developed a stronger interest in tea after leaving Assam, gradually stepping into the world of tea.
Their first encounter with Assam tea was in 2017, when Subhasish’s brother Debasish was filming a documentary about smallholder Assam tea farmers. During the shooting, they met many local growers and began communicating with these hardworking farmers—even getting to know some of them before planting their own tea. Though they knew the farmers were making tea, they never discussed the details of the leaves. As conversations became more frequent, they gradually realized that these smallholder farmers were the real treasure troves of tea knowledge.
They read research papers from China, Japan, and Assam itself to gain an in-depth understanding of the characteristics and varieties of different types of tea such as white tea and oolong tea. They even discovered that black tea cultivars could be used to produce quality white tea, and green tea varieties could be blended to create unique oolong flavors, sharing these findings with the farmers and conducting more varietal experiments.
Most of the tea gardens they collaborate with have been around for 30 to 40 years. Initially, the farmers obtained seeds and cuttings from government sources for cultivation, but often didn’t know the specific varieties. Without varietal information, it was difficult to pinpoint the causes when problems arose with the tea. So, they decided to work with the farmers to experiment with different varieties, seeking the best combinations suited to the local terroir.
“Our understanding of tea mostly comes from these smallholder farmers,” Subhasish emphasized. Although academic journals and research reports—especially those from the Tea Research Association of Assam—were helpful, the ones who truly understood the challenges of tea and the science behind it were the farmers who worked with their gardens day in and day out. One of the challenges they faced was technical processes, such as finding the ideal flavor profile through variations of the five dragons variety, requiring a blend of academic theory and hands-on experience.
Besides varietal exploration, they are also committed to increasing the visibility of small tea gardens. Subhasish said: “Transparency is the foundation of trust.” Having grown up in Assam, every time he returned from elsewhere, he would see highways dividing large tea estates but noticed a huge gap between people’s perception of tea and the reality.
From a cultural preservation standpoint, smallholder farmers are often the pioneers in promoting handmade tea. They not only create value for artisanal tea but also bring high-quality tea from remote villages. However, some leaf-buying factories in certain regions purchase raw materials from numerous small farmers but rarely establish social or cultural connections with them. If these factories respected the emotions and stories behind the tea, the resulting black tea would be completely different.
Unfortunately, these bridges are built loosely, and resources often flow to large estates rather than the farmers who actually work the land. The current situation has become quite fixed, and without someone taking the initiative, it’s hard to change things with just the efforts of a few. There has long been a lack of cultural and educational exchange between farmers and landlords, coupled with the colonial-era notion left by the British that “tea is not for ordinary people,” hindering the evolution of tea culture in Assam society.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
