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International Tea Day is being celebrated in major tea producing countries like India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Kenya, Malawi, Malaysia, Uganda, and Tanzania. The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has identified May 21 as the International Tea Day based on a proposal placed by India at the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) Inter-Governmental Group (IGG) on tea in 2015. Prior to this, International Tea Day was celebrated on December 15. As the season of quality tea production starts in May in most of the tea producing countries, UNGA accepted India’s proposal on this.

Annual tea production is increasing. But in some countries, the consumption rate of tea is not picking up at the same pace. It is particularly important in a country like India, where a large number of small scale producers are present and they are contributing significantly. So promotion of tea consumption is important and any celebration of International Tea Day needs to promote the consumption of tea. The other objective of International Tea Day was to draw global attention of governments and citizens to the problems of tea workers and growers and call for price support and fair trade. The first International Tea Day was celebrated in 2005, in New Delhi.