Timeline of Nusantara Tea Culture

A valuable history is hidden behind the beautiful green expanse of tea plantations that we enjoy today. The shrub traveled a long path before it became the “green gold” that is a source of livelihood for many people.

KOMPAS/RIZA FATHONI

A woman walks with her son at a tea plantation Empalasmen V Cipuspa, Sukaresmi village, Rancabali, Bandung regency, West Java, on June 23, 2019 (23/6/2019).

The far-reaching history of tea in Indonesia began in 1684, when the seeds of the tea plant (Camellia sinensis) came to Indonesia from Japan. Tea was brought to Jakarta, then named Batavia, by Andreas Cleyer – a German doctor, teacher, and botanist, who was a trader with the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC).

The tea plant was only ornamental at the time and not used in trade. The colonial government started developing tea as a trade commodity in 1728, when it started importing tea seeds in bulk from China. However, this attempt was not very successful.

Tea was successfully grown in 1826 to add to the collection of the Bogor Botanical Garden. The following year, tea was planted in the Cisurupan (Garut) Experimental Gardens and Wanayasa (Purwakarta) Experimental Gardens in West Java.

Indonesian tea has become known throughout the world, bringing fame to Nusantara.

Interested in China, Japan and Taiwan’s success at trading tea in the European market, the Dutch colonial government sent Jacobus Isidorus Loudewijk Levian Jacobson to China to learn about tea production. The tea expert and tester of Dutch trading firm Nederlandsche Handel Maatschappij (NHM) returned to Batavia with 7 million tea seeds and 15 Chinese plantation workers from Macau as planned.

The central region of Priangan was the chosen location for the tea plantation. The success of experimental cultivation in Wanayasa (Purwakarta) and Raung (Banyuwangi) opened the way for J.I.L.L. Jacobson to lay the foundation for the commercial production of tea in Java.

Finally in 1835, tea produced in the Indonesian archipelago (Nusantara) began to be shipped to the Netherlands, and appeared at the Amsterdam tea auction for the first time. Since then, Indonesian tea has become known throughout the world, bringing fame to Nusantara.

KOMPAS/RIZA FATHONI

Tea pickers take a break at tea plantation Malabar afdeling Sukaratu belonging to state plantation PTPN VIII Malabar, Pangalengan, in Bandung regency, West Java, on June 22, 2019. (22/6/2019).

Cultuurstelsel

Tea was included in the Cultuurstelsel (Cultivation System), a Dutch policy that mandated the agricultural cultivation of specific plants for export, also known as Tanam Paksa (forced planting). The Tanam Paksa period ended in 1870 after the Dutch colonial government adopted the Agrarian Law, an economic liberalization policy that transformed Priangan into a production center for “green gold”. This marked a milestone in commercial tea production.

Tea cultivation in Indonesia developed further after 1877 with the importation of the Assam variety from Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Tea is a highly valuable because it contributes a large amount of foreign exchange revenues to Indonesia.

KOMPAS/RIZA FATHONI

Tea pickers share drinks before starting work at tea plantation Malabar, Pangalengan, in Bandung regency, West Java, on June 22, 2019 (22/6/2019).

Preanger Planters

The Priangan tea estates expanded under the Hunderian dynasty and its descendants, the Holle, Kerkhoven and Bosscha families, who became known as the Preanger Planters. The work of the three plantation families, bound by the ties of kinship, formed the embryo of the Indonesian tea industry.

The started with the tea plantation in Parakan Salak, and then expanded by building other plantations in Sinagar, Waspada, Arjasari, Gambung and Malabar.

One renowned member of the family is Karel Albert Rudolf Bosscha, whose efforts in developing the Malabar estate prompted other planters to cultivate tea. Bosscha was dubbed the “King of Priangan Tea” for his painstaking endeavors in tea cultivation.

This “green gold” and its benefits must be maintained for future generations.

Bosscha died in 1928, by which time the cultivation of tea had developed and spread as far as Sumatra. In 1903, tea was planted in Akar Gadang estate, West Sumatra, followed in 1910 by a plantation in Simalungun, North Sumatra.

The Japanese occupation marked a setback in the tea industry in Indonesia, because Japan did not consider it a priority. Both large and smallholder tea plantations were mismanaged. The plantations were minimally maintained and the number of tea factories reduced.

The arrival of the Independence era marked a reawakening in the tea industry, especially after the tea plantations were nationalized into the State Plantation Company (PPN). Attempts to were made in the 1970s to revive the tea industry. Tea plantations and production began to increase in the 1980s. Nonetheless, the production capacity of tea has continued to decline during the Reform Era.

The shrinking tea plantations and declining harvests are a warning for the future of the tea industry in Indonesia, where tea has become part of the culture.

Tea has sustained the lives of a certain group of people to the present. This “green gold” and its benefits must be maintained for future generations.

(Kompas R&D)