Tea consumption is an essential part of contemporary Australian culture, generally inherited fromBritish tea culture though with its own distinct qualities. Small quantities oftea are grown and produced in Australia itself.
Historically,Aboriginal Australians drank aninfusion from the plant speciesleptospermum (a different plant from the tea plant orCamellia sinensis). This plant is the New Zealand native Manuka. Upon landing in Australia for the first time,Captain Cook noticed the aboriginal peoples drinking it and called it tea. Today the plant is referred to as the "tea tree".
Through colonisation by the British, tea was introduced to Australia. In fact, tea was aboard theFirst Fleet in 1788. Tea is a large part of modern Australian culture due to its British origins. Australians drink tea and have afternoon tea and morning tea much the way the British do. Additionally, due to Australia's climate, tea is able to be grown and produced in northern Australia.[1]
In 1883,Alfred Bushell opened the first tea shop in Australia in present-day Queensland. In 1884, the Cutten brothers established the first commercial tea plantation in Australia inBingil Bay in northernQueensland.[2] In 1899, Bushell's sons moved their enterprise toSydney and began selling tea commercially, founding Australia's first commercial tea sellerBushell's Company.[3] In 1901, tea merchant James Griffiths (founder of Griffiths Teas) advertised the sale of "Australian-grown tea" from his property on the outskirts of Melbourne.[4]
In 1958,Allan Maruff started the first commercial tea plantings in Australia since 1886 in theNerada valley, south ofCairns,Queensland, using seedlings from the former Cutten brother's plantation at Bingil Bay.[5] In 1969, Tea Estates of Australia (TEA) commenced tea planting adjacent to the Nerada plantation. In 1971,Nerada Tea Estates (NTE) opened Australia's first commercial tea factory. In 1973, TEA purchased NTE, ceased selling bulk tea and marketed the tea under the Nerada brand. The following year, TEA opened a small packing factory inInnisfail. In 1991, TEA opened a larger tea factory inGlen Allyn, nearMalanda and a larger packaging plant the next year inBrisbane. Nerada Tea is the largest supplier of Australian grown tea, with over 400 ha (990 acres) of tea planted in theCairns Region, producing 1,500,000 kg (3,300,000 lb) of black tea.[6]
In 1978, Mike and Norma Grant-Cook, tea planters fromCeylon, established theMadura Tea Estates inMurwillumbah (Tweed River valley) in north-easternNew South Wales. Madura producesAssam tea andgreen tea, which is blended with Sri Lanka (Ceylon) tea.[7]
Other tea producers include: the Byron Bay Tea Company, which produces inByron Bay, New South Wales;[8] the Red Sparrow Tea Company which was established in 1988 inCoffs Harbour;[9] theDaintree Tea Company, established in 1978 in theDaintree River valley nearMossman, Queensland;[10] the Tinbeerwah Tea Company in the steep hills overlookingNoosa, Queensland; and the Two Rivers Green Tea Company, located near the junction of theGoulburn andAcheron Rivers atAlexandra, Victoria.[11][12]
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Australian tea culture remains very similar toBritish tea culture. Tea is often offered to guests by the host and small food portions are often served during "morning tea" and "afternoon tea". The main evening meal can be called "tea".
As a result of the growing Asian population in Australia, Australian tea culture has been mixed with several Asian tea cultures found in Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, India and Sri Lanka.
Billy tea is the drink prepared by the ill-fatedswagman in the popular Australian folk songWaltzing Matilda. Boiling water for tea over a campfire and adding agum leaf for flavouring remains an iconic traditional Australian method for preparing tea, which was a staple drink of theAustralian colonial period.[13]
In 2000, Australia consumed 14,000 tonnes of tea annually.[14] Tea production in Australia remains very small and is primarily in northernNew South Wales andQueensland. Most tea produced in Australia is black tea, although there are small quantities of green tea produced in theAlpine Valleys region ofVictoria.[15]
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