Which area of Assam black tea tastes good? Does long-term drinking Assam black tea have side effects?

It is clear that disruptions in rainfall and temperature patterns are affecting the tea industry, and the impact is sure to expand. Drought in Africa has reached crisis proportions. In northern Kenya, more than 1 million people face hunger. In India, heavy rainfall erodes hillsides and damages vegetation. Low-lying areas of Chinese farms are covered with dust, blocking sunlight. Glaciers in the Himalayas, Asia's water tower, have melted twice as fast since 2000 as they did in the previous two decades. These are macro-level "big picture" numbers. Less clear is the local micro perspective. What impact have these changes had on individual farms? Which are immediate and not cumulative? What are the most critical climate variables? What can farmers do instead of policymakers? A useful study published in late 2016 provided answers through detailed tracking of crop yields in Assam, drawing on 10 years of data collection. "Observing the effect of climate on tea production in Assam, India": Journal of Applied Geography). It captures the structural dynamics of climate-yield relationships. Assam remains the largest tea growing region in the world, accounting for one-fifth of global production and half of India's. Tea provides employment for 1.2 million workers. The region faces increasingly difficult times, especially in improving tea quality to compete with its main export rivals China, Kenya and Sri Lanka. Since 2013, input costs have increased 8 percent a year, but prices have only increased 1 percent a year. Clearly, climate change has created many problems for tea growing operations in Assam:800 large plantations and more than 100,000 small farmers, who now produce about half of Assam's output. Tea yield studies are particularly helpful in using data at the business unit level. The data, collected from 82 tea plantations, show monthly yields from 2004 to 2013, as well as daily weather, temperature and precipitation data. Thus, it adds a micro focus to support and extend macro research findings. They tend to address policy issues; yield surveys are more relevant than management surveys. Macroscopic analysis shows consistent long-term regional warming trends and yield decline. Econometric models confirm that seasonal variations in the monsoon are having long-term effects. The Assam study breaks down the data and shows that the main source of yield decline is short-term variations in temperature and precipitation within a single month. On average, the prevailing weather pattern throughout the year is that January is the coldest month, the monsoon comes in June, and June-September is the month with the highest precipitation. The direct impact on yields comes from a month, especially five consecutive days without precipitation.

The management message of the study is that priorities must focus on reducing bush sensitivity to precipitation changes: accelerating the development of drought-resistant varieties; improving irrigation infrastructure (e.g., drip fertilization vs. artificial field spraying); increasing bush protection for shade trees to retain moisture; and improving pruning practices. The study concluded that this combination of good practices provided immediate and adaptive returns.