Top 10 Tea Producing Countries

The results are in!  The top 10 tea producing countries in 2011 were:

1. China, 1.6 million tonnes
2. India, 1.0 million tonnes
3. Kenya, .4 million tonnes
4. Sri Lanka, .3 million tonnes
5. Turkey, .2 million tonnes
6. Vietnam, .2 million tonnes
7. Iran, .2 million tonnes
8. Indonesia, .1 million tonnes
9. Argentina, .1 million tonnes
10. Japan, .1 million tonnes

For those who like their measurements in pounds, a tonne is 2,200 pounds.  So, China and India combined produced 5.7 BILLION pounds of tea last year.  Holy Hot Beverage, Batman!

The top 10 country rankings are the same as they were in 2010 but Brazil dropped off the top 25 list and was replaced by Cameroon.  I don't know if Brazil's output declined, but African output is increasing  because its tea bushes are reaching the age of optimal production, says the Food & Ag Organization of the United Nations.

Data sources: FAOSTAT.com .

Pesticides in Chinese Tea

Would you like a little sugar with your tea?  Honey?  A splash of hazardous pesticides?

A 2012 Greenpeace report found the "massive use of chemical pesticides" in samples of Chinese tea.

Greenpeace tested 18 medium grade oolong, jasmine and green teas from 9 major Chinese tea companies.  All of the samples were found to contain multiple pesticides and most contained hazardous, banned pesticides.

The report indicated that the Chinese government has a 5-year plan to reduce the use of pesticides by 20 percent.  Greenpeace is urging a "drastic reduction."


What's a tea drinker to do?  Dirty Harry would say you have to ask yourself, "Do I feel lucky?  Well, do ya, punk?

Having said all that, is chinese tea is more or less safe than tea from other countries?  The report may not change my tea drinking habits a lot but I'll probably reach more for certified organic versions.