Assam Surrounded by mountain ranges, the state of Assam is situated in the northeast of India and is the largest contiguous area of tea cultivation on earth. It is bounded by the foothills of the Himalayas in the north and shares borders with Tibet, Bhutan, and China. In the east is the mountainous frontier with Burma and in the south the Shillong plateau and Bangladesh. Assam consists for the most part of fertile hills on both sides of the mighty Brahmaputra river, which rises in Tibet and conveys incredible amounts of water to the sea during the monsoon season. As it is falls very gently (only about 100 metres for every 600 kilometres), it breaks its banks regularly every year and floods wide areas of the country. 90% of the rain falls between April and September at temperatures of 25°C – 35°C and high humidity. Between October and March, on the other hand, plenty of sunshine and temperatures between 20°C and 25°C can be expected. Attempts to cultivate Chinese tea plants and seeds here ended in failure, but in 1823 a new variety of camellia was discovered in this area with much larger and more vigorous leaves than the Chinese variety (thea sinensis), and far better adapted to the climatic conditions – thea assamica was born. It only requires three years of growth before the first picking. In comparison, a tea plant in Darjeeling needs 4-6 years. From 1836 to 1838 the first tea from Assam – green tea – was traded in Calcutta, which the Chinese had helped to produce. The planters in Assam quickly learned from the Chinese and were soon producing black tea as well – and thus began its triumphal procession around the world. Besides the production of orthodox tea, CTC (crushing-tearing-curling) is also widely produced. With the aid of a rotorvane machine, the leaves are crushed, torn and curled in a single operation. No leaf grades are produced – only broken, fannings, and dust.