Pragnya IAS · Map 73 · People & economy
India: distribution of tea & coffee map study
Two plantation crops sorted by slope, shade and rainfall: Assam tea versus Karnataka coffee.
STUDY NOTE 1
Tea’s requirements
Warm humid climate, 150+ cm well-distributed rain, acidic soils and sloping well-drained land; Assam’s Brahmaputra valley and Darjeeling’s Himalayan slopes lead, with Nilgiri tea in the south.
STUDY NOTE 2
Coffee’s home
Karnataka (Kodagu, Chikmagalur, Hassan) grows most Indian coffee under shade trees on Western Ghats slopes; Kerala and Tamil Nadu follow. Arabica likes altitude, robusta the lower warmer hills.
STUDY NOTE 3
Plantation economy
Both are labour-intensive estate crops with processing on-site (tea factories, coffee curing) — geography of production and processing coincide.
Map reading task
Map the two tea regions and the coffee triangle; write the altitude preference of arabica versus robusta.
Map key · Reference locations
What does this india: distribution of tea & coffee lesson explain?
Warm humid climate, 150+ cm well-distributed rain, acidic soils and sloping well-drained land; Assam’s Brahmaputra valley and Darjeeling’s Himalayan slopes lead, with Nilgiri tea in the south.
UPSC map practice & Geography Optional connection
For UPSC Prelims, pair the location with its state, neighbouring relief and relevant geographic process. For GS I and Geography Optional Indian geography revision, use a simple labelled sketch to explain the relationship rather than replacing the answer with place names. These are Pragnya-authored exercises, not official UPSC previous-year questions.
References & map credits
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