Long before the colonial tea gardens of Assam became world-famous, the Singpho people of the eastern Himalayan foothills were cultivating, preparing, and drinking tea as an integral part of daily life.
In 1823, Scottish adventurer Robert Bruce encountered the Singpho chief Bessa Gam near Rangpur in upper Assam. Bessa Gam introduced Bruce to the locally grown tea plant. His brother C.A. Bruce continued the work, and by 1839, commercial Assam tea was being sold in London.
SYO is working to restore this history through oral history projects and community documentation.