Outside the well-known producing countries, around ten Asian countries also make tea following two different traditions: the Chinese approach, such as Thailand and Laos, or the British one, as with Indonesia and Bangladesh.

Fourth world producer of tea, Sri Lanka, nicknamed the Island of Tea, provides more than half of the black tea consumed in France. The best teas are found in the south and are divided between five large districts.

The national drink of the country, tea is anchored in Japanese tradition since the 12th century. The drink has been given a role in art through the ceremony of Cha No Yu. It is also consumed daily in restaurants (Bancha, Hojicha). Discover Japanese teas, steamed green teas that are remarkably refreshing.

The cradle of tea and first world producer, China offers the largest variety of tea in the world. Discover its history and some emblematic teas from The Middle Kingdom.

The leaves of green and Oolong-teas teas are usually whole and the grade is not specified. The same applies for a few of the black teas, particularly Chinese, where its name is a synonym of quality. For other black teas the grade is important since it gives two pieces of information: the fineness of the crop, and the size of the leaf (whole, broken, ground).

It all began in 2737 BC in China. According to legend, whilst the emperor Shen Nung was boiling water to slake his thirst in the shade of a tree, a light breeze rustled the branches and caused a few leaves to fall. They mixed with the water and gave it a delicate colour and perfume. The emperor tasted it and found it to be delicious. The tree was a wild tea plant: tea was born.

Tea plantations look like a huge forest made up of small trees that rarely reach above 1.5m in height. When their trunks are thick and gnarled, they show that their age is much greater than their small size would suggest.In their natural state tea plants can reach a height of 15 to 2m. If they are to be cultivated they are kept at a height of about 1.2m by regular pruning, in order to form what is known as the "plucking table", which facilitates hand plucking and encourages bud growth.

Kyysu and Shiboridashi are accessories traditionally used for the preparation and the infusion of Japanese green teas, Gyokuro, Sencha and Tamaryokucha in particular.