Assam produces some of the finest and most expensive teas in the world. Other than the Chinese tea variety Camellia sinensis, Assam is the only region in the world that has its own variety of tea, called Camellia assamica. Assam tea is grown at elevations near sea level, giving it a malty sweetness and an earthy flavor, as opposed to the more floral aroma of highland (e.g. Darjeeling , Taiwanese) teas.
The word 'Assam' is derived from the Sanskrit word 'Asoma', meaning peerless, reflected in the exquisite natural beauty, cultural richness and human wealth. During the Mahabharata age, it was known as Pragjyotish ( Land of Eastern Light ). In the Puranas and Tantras, Assam was referred to as Kamrupa- the land where Kamadeva, the God of Love, was reborn. In ancient times Assam constituted a part of the land known successively as Pragjyotisha or Pragjyotishpura, and Kamarupa. Asom (Axom) or its anglicized version Assam is a comparatively modern name. The exact origin of the name vary with some ascribing it to the Bodo word Ha-Cham which means ‘low level country and a second view ascribing it to the word Asama, meaning ‘unequalled’ or ‘peerless’, and used to denote the Ahoms, a Shan tribe which ruled the land for six centuries from the 13th Century A.D. It was during the Varmana dynasty that Assam was chronicled in the SI-YUKI, the famed travelogue of Hiuen-Tsang, a Chinese pilgrim. After 600 years of the Ahom-Kingdom, Assam became part of British India in 1826 and then a constituent state of Independent India.
