Tea plantations were established in Indonesia in the early seventeenth century, but did not begin to flourish until the 1800's when the tea bushes grown from tea seeds from China were replaced with tea seeds from Assam. Indonesia is made up of thousands of islands with tea cultivation on Java, Sulawesi and Sumatra.

The main tea producing island is Java with tea gardens located in the western mountainous region. Their perfect environment of high altitude, rich volcanic soil and nearness to rain forest preserves produces teas with characteristics of a high grown Ceylon.