Indonesia Since its independence in 1949, Indonesia – the world’s largest Islamic country – has not always been a place where people of different faiths live in peace together, but for its inhabitants and visitors alike it is still a tropical paradise, with an agreeable climate and over 17,000 islands. Here you can find New Guinea, Borneo, Sumatra, and Sulawesi – the second, third, sixth, and eleventh largest islands in the world respectively – but also the smallest, untouched islands that teem with a huge variety of flora and fauna. They are also the home to some unique animals, such as the orang-utan, the tree kangaroo, the Komodo dragon, and the rafflesia, the world’s largest flower. In 1824 the German Dr. Ch. Bernard was commissioned by the government to establish a Chinese tea plantation in Java. The objective was to stock Holland’s botanical gardens with as many native Javanese plants as possible. In early 1826, the first seeds and plants arrived from China. With Chinese experts supervising the operation, factories were gradually built in which tea was made according to Chinese methods. The frigate “Algier” brought the first Javanese tea to Holland in 1835 and sold it at auction the same year. In 1878, the first Assam plants were also introduced. By skilfully crossing the two varieties, the quality improved all the time, resulting in a veritable tea boom in 1910. In order to meet world demand, from then on planters concentrated on growing tea in Sumatra, whose plantations soon produced teas that were stronger and had plenty of colour compared with the lighter but more aromatic Java teas. It is also remarkable that – thanks to Sumatra’s climate – a virtually consistent quality of tea can be produced throughout the entire growing period, without there being any real high season. In Java, the premium quality teas are harvested between July and October.