Est. 1839 · The Authority The independent guide to Assam, the malty black tea of the Brahmaputra valley Assam.biz
THE ASSAM MALT AUTHORITY NULLUM MANE SINE ROBORE The Assam Malt Authority
The
ASSAM
Malt Authority
Nullum Mane Sine Robore No morning without strength

The Ledger

Guwahati Auction Prices Fall 15 Percent as Floods Cut Output Assam CTC prices at the Guwahati Tea Auction Centre have fallen from Rs 264.89 to Rs 221.57 a kilo in under two months, even as flood and pest damage cut production, the Tea Association of India says. Guwahati's tea auction house plans a museum and a planter's bust GTAC's governing body reviewed a tea museum, visitor facilities, and a Maniram Dewan bust, alongside routine warehousing and export housekeeping. An Assam Green Tea Takes a Great Taste Star, Judged Blind Assam is a black tea region. A green tea grown there, Woolah's Rare Assam Green Tea, has taken a 1-Star Great Taste Award 2026, judged blind by more than 500 tasters. Police Investigate Two Deaths at Samdung Tea Estate Two deaths on a single day at an Assam tea garden, set against a national audit that found safety inspections running 65% to 94% below the prescribed rate. Bhergaon's First Yellow Tea Sells for Rs 13,334 a Kilogram Bhergaon Tea Estate sold its first yellow tea, a rare and labor-intensive style, at the Guwahati Tea Auction Centre for Rs 13,334 a kilogram. Leopard Attacks Worker at Lakribam Tea Estate in Dibrugarh A leopard attacked a worker walking inside Lakribam Tea Estate in Tingkhong, Dibrugarh district, on Sunday night, injuring his shoulders, hand and leg. Luxmi Tea's Assam Estates Win Harassment-Prevention Award An Assam tea operator's harassment-prevention program, credited with reaching about 10,000 workers over two years by the company's own account, drew a national award in New Delhi. Floodwaters Reach Nearly 30 Assam Tea Gardens, Minister Says Assam's labour welfare minister says floodwaters have entered nearly 30 tea gardens statewide, 11 of them severely damaged, per the Labour Commissioner's own figures, as the state's wider flood toll climbs toward 75 dead. Floods Submerge Nazira's Tea Estates, Bamonpookrie Worst Hit A cloudburst in Nagaland breached the Dorika River embankment, putting almost every tea estate in Sivasagar's Nazira sub-division under water. Assam Raises Small Growers' Tax Break, Restores Estate Tax The 2026-27 state budget raises the agricultural income tax exemption for small tea growers fourfold, to Rs 10 lakh, and restores the tax on larger estates from April 1, earmarking that revenue for tea garden community welfare. Assam Will Grant Land Titles to 350,000 Tea Garden Workers, and Build Them Houses Minister Atul Bora told the Assembly's budget session on July 14 that the land patta drive now targets 350,000 workers on Assam's tea estates, with government-funded houses added on top. Modi Gifts Assam's Manohari Gold Tea to Indonesian President Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave Indonesia's president Manohari Gold Tea, an Assam orthodox that has sold for more than Rs 1 lakh a kilogram, months after Modi himself plucked leaf at the estate that makes it. Assam Keeps Its Pickers Off the Bushes by 2 P.M. as the Heat Wave Runs On The state's Labour Welfare Department has extended the order that moved tea garden work to 6 a.m.-2 p.m., cutting the day short of the worst afternoon heat, with no end date set. A Tea Estate Closed Since a 2017 Shooting Is Missing From Assam's Own Closed-Garden List Bogidhola Tea Estate in Golaghat has stood idle since owners fired on protesting workers in December 2017. Workers say the state's own list of closed tea gardens, tabled in the Assembly this month, leaves Bogidhola off it entirely. Assam Just Put State Money Behind the Matcha You Might Find A week after the country's first commercial Assam matcha sold at auction, the state's 2026-27 budget folds it into the same subsidy line that spent years building orthodox tea. Assam Rolls Out Farmer IDs to Growers Behind Half Its Tea Assam opened farmer registration for small tea growers on July 3 in Biswanath district, giving growers who supply close to half the state's tea a credential that unlocks credit, fertilizer and other government schemes for the first time. India's First Commercial Matcha, Grown on a Black-Tea Estate Chota Tingrai Tea Estate in Tinsukia says it has produced India's first commercially manufactured matcha, after a decade working with Japanese partners. The first lot sold at the Guwahati auction on July 3. The New Britain Trade Deal Will Not Make Your Assam Cheaper The India-UK trade pact, set to take effect July 15, is billed as giving Indian tea duty-free access to Britain. Assam's black tea already went in duty-free. What changed is attention, not the price. Tea Workers' Union Demands Kaziranga Land-Allocation Inquiry The Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha is calling for a high-level inquiry after land at Inle Pathar and Hatikhuli, farmed for generations by tea-tribe families on the fringe of Kaziranga National Park, was reclassified and allotted to a hospitality company. Nearly Half the Packet Tea in Your Everyday Cup Just Failed Its Safety Tests Much of India's everyday packet tea, including the CTC that moves through the Guwahati auction, is Assam leaf. The Tea Board's own 2025-26 testing found 835 of 1,764 samples failed, mostly on pesticide residue, and it will not say which brands. A Fifth-Generation Assam Planter, Bidyananda Barkakoty, Takes a Heritage Award in Kolkata Bidyananda Barkakoty, a fifth-generation Assam tea planter and a familiar voice on the state of the crop, received the ASSOCHAM Legacy and Heritage Excellence Award 2026 for a family line five generations deep in the leaf. The Small Growers Who Make Half Your Assam Just Got a Farmer ID Assam has added tea and plantation land to its Farmers' Registry, letting 1.33 lakh (133,000) small tea growers get a Farmer ID that links their identity to their land and opens the door to formal credit, fertiliser and crop insurance. Deckiajuli, a Garden Worth Seeking, Tops the Guwahati Sale Deckiajuli's robust, bright CTC is a north-bank Assam garden worth seeking: the buyers who taste before they bid just rated it the season's best, setting a Rs 1,103 a kilogram record at the Guwahati auction. A 30-Year Study Finds Assam's Malt on the Line A peer-reviewed study by Tocklai and UPASI scientists reads three decades of plantation weather and finds Assam's South Bank belt up about 1.1°C, 2025 rainfall 364 mm short, and warns heat and drought are altering the leaf chemistry behind flavour and aroma. What a Day Picking Your Assam Now Pays: Rs 280 A Rs 30 rise took the Brahmaputra valley daily wage to Rs 280 from April 1, an interim figure the state says will be revised again within six months and may pass Rs 300; Adivasi worker bodies called it inadequate. Favourable Weather Gives Assam a High-Quality Second Flush Good weather has brought Assam a strong second flush this year, even after a dry start cut the early crop by nearly two-fifths and pushed auction prices up. This Year's Assam First Flush Will Be Scarcer, and Dearer A near-rainless winter thinned Assam's spring crop by roughly 39%, so the first flush reaching your cup this year is a smaller, pricier harvest. The 97% rainfall deficit behind it is why. Amchong Estate Opens India's First Tea Experience Centre Amchong Tea Estate, on the outskirts of Guwahati, sits inside the Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary at Jubai No. 2, Digaru Gaon in Assam. It has opened Amchong Leaf, a guided-tour, tasting and restaurant venture its director calls an attempt to let visitors experience tea at the source. A Karbi Anglong Green Tea Grown, Made and Sold by Its Women In Assam's Karbi Anglong hills, a women-led collective now processes and sells its own labelled green tea, Premium Karbi Artisanal Green Tea, instead of handing raw leaf to an outside factory. It is a hill-grown Assam green a drinker can seek by name and know who made it. The Ground Your Assam Grows On Is Shared With Wild Elephants A new analysis of 1,806 human-elephant conflict incidents in Assam since 2000 found tea estates acting as transit ground between shrinking forests and villages, researchers reported, with 1,468 deaths recorded over the period. The World Keeps Buying More Assam On International Tea Day, the government said the malty Assam cup is much of what a growing world market is buying, with India's tea exports up 93% by value over 12 years. The Brahmaputra Is Taking the Ground a Tinsukia Estate Grows On Erosion has washed away 35.48 hectares of tea plantation at Dighaltarang Tea Estate in Tinsukia district, closing on the garden's factory, hospital and workers' quarters, with 1,474 families dependent on the estate now at risk, reports said. The Families Who Pick Assam Tea Are Getting Title to Their Homes A first-phase rollout handed land pattas to tea garden families across Sonitpur, Golaghat, and Karbi Anglong on March 15, giving workers legal title to the housing-line land their families have lived on for generations. Assam Pays Gardens to Grow the Orthodox Tea You Seek Out The state distributed Rs 94.70 crore across 486 tea gardens on March 9 under a scheme that subsidizes orthodox and specialty tea production, the finance minister said. New EU Pesticide Limits Threaten the Strong Assam in Europe's Blends The cut arrives just as a new India-EU trade deal lifts tariffs, and it falls hardest on the malty leaf that anchors Europe's breakfast blends. Assam's Best Termite Killer Also Tests Cleanest for Residue A new Assam Agricultural University trial finds the most effective chemical against wood-eating termites in tea gardens also clears the leaf to a residue far below the safety limit within a week. North Bank Tests Brighter and Stronger Than Upper Assam The first regional quality benchmark in over a decade weighs the state's two main tea belts, and the north bank comes out ahead on the compounds behind a bright, brisk cup. Tocklai Launches Low-Caffeine Green Tea to Rival Matcha The Tea Research Association built a low-caffeine green tea powder from three Assam clones, alongside a patented AI breeding tool, at its 61st annual general meeting. Greenfly Outbreak Cuts Assam's Second-Flush Yields by Up to 55% A greenfly infestation is cutting Assam's prized second-flush yields by 11% to 55%, tea researchers said, and the pest, once seasonal, now appears year-round. Book on 200 Years of Assam Tea Released at Assam Book Fair Dr. Samudra Gupta Kashyap's bicentennial history of the Assam tea industry was released Friday at the Assam Book Fair. Assam Hands Out Tourism Grants to 34 More Tea Gardens Assam's Tourism Minister distributed sanction letters to 34 tea gardens under Phase II of the state's Tea Tourism Development Scheme, each eligible for up to Rs 2 crore to build out accommodation and visitor amenities. The First Assam Tea a Drinker Could Buy Reaches London Eight chests of Assam tea sold at the London sales on Jan. 10, the first tea grown in India ever offered for sale, the moment the cup you pour today became something you could go out and get.