The Introduction of the Tea-Culture in Indonesia
by Francis Benteux

26th & 29th June 2008

Ubud Hanging Gardens is delighted to host a fascinating talk and best vintage tea tasting session with Francis Benteux. This will take place in the Diatas Pohon Café at 4.00 pm.

The Introduction of Tea Culture in Indonesia (1826-1926)
As early as the end of the seventeenth century, the Dutch East India Company considered it desirable to establish the tea-culture in Java.

The first plantations date back to 1826 when tea seeds and plants from Japan were sent to Buitenzorg (today known as Bogor). Tea was initially cultivated in the country house garden of the Netherlands East Indies General Governor.

One century later, in 1926, the Netherlands East Indies was ranked number three, behind British India and Ceylon, in percent of the world’s tea production for exportation.

The Splendour & Glory of Tea in China
Tea has been well-known and widely available in China for centuries. Its discovery is attributed to the emperor Shen Nong in the year 2737 BCE. It is said that while he was resting one hot day under the shade of a wild tree (a tea-tree obviously) he acquire an insatiable thirst.

So, following custom he boiled some water and by chance a slight breeze floated a few leaves down from the tree into his drinking vessel.

However, the Chinese art of tea, that is to say the art of cultivating and manufacturing the leaves in order to extract maximum fragrance and aroma, developed some three thousand years later.