Acid, Aluminum, and Rain: The Soil and Monsoon Behind an Assam Cup

The valley's soil runs strongly acidic and aluminum-heavy, and the monsoon delivers nearly two meters of rain in four months. The compound most articles credit for the malty taste has never actually been tested for it. Here is what the record can, and cannot, certify.

Assam Has a Fluoride Problem. It Is Not in the Tea.

Parts of Assam have some of India's worst groundwater fluoride contamination, and tea grows in the same soil. This office checked the peer-reviewed numbers on both to certify which one is the actual risk.