Who Picks Assam: The Garden Workforce, From Indenture to the Daily Wage

Assam's tea was built on a labour force the British carried in from central India under contracts a worker could be jailed for breaking. This is who grows and picks the cup, how they came to be in the valley, and what the work pays now.

The Rise of the Small Tea Grower

Most Assam tea today does not come from a colonial-era estate. It comes from a plot smaller than a football pitch, owned by a family who has never processed a single leaf of it. Here is who actually grows the tea, by weight and measure.

The Iron Assam's Own Cup Takes From Its Pickers

Peer-reviewed surveys put anemia in Assam's tea garden workforce as high as 88 to 100 percent. The diet is the main cause. The tannins in the tea they pick and brew strong are a real, measurable second one.