BOH Plantations facts for kids
 |
|
BOH tea estate
|
|
| Private limited company | |
| Industry | Tea |
| Founded | 1929 in Cameron Highlands, Malaya |
| Founder | J.A. Russell |
| Headquarters |
,
Malaysia
|
| Products | Tea |
BOH Plantations Sdn Bhd, known simply as BOH, is the biggest maker of black tea in Malaysia. The company is famous for its huge tea plantation in the beautiful Cameron Highlands of Pahang, which is the largest in the country. BOH tea is enjoyed by people in Malaysia and around the world.
The company was started in 1929 by a British businessman named J. A. Russell. This was during a time when the area, then called Malaya, was under British rule.
Contents
The Story of BOH Tea
A Young Businessman's Dream
J. A. Russell was not born in Malaya. He moved to Kuala Lumpur from Britain in 1890 when he was only seven years old. Back then, the main product from Malaya was tin.
Russell was a smart businessman. He learned to speak several Chinese dialects and the Malay language. This helped him make friends and business partners. Before starting BOH, he worked with tin and also invested in the growing rubber industry with his brothers.
Turning Jungle into Tea Gardens
Russell decided to start a tea company in 1929. This was a difficult time for the world economy, known as the Great Depression, when many businesses were failing. But Russell believed that people would always want to drink tea.
He got permission to use a large piece of land in a place called Habu in the Cameron Highlands. The land was wild rainforest on very steep hills. With the help of a tea expert from Ceylon (modern-day Sri Lanka) and teams of workers using mules and a steamroller, they cleared the jungle. They carefully carved the hills into the stepped terraces you can still see today, creating the first BOH tea garden.
BOH Today
BOH Plantations now owns four main tea gardens. Three are in the Cameron Highlands, and one is in the state of Selangor. Together, these gardens cover about 1,200 hectares of land.
Every year, BOH produces about 4 million kilograms of tea. This makes up about 70% of all the tea grown in Malaysia. The company also has a factory where the tea is packaged, and it offers tours for visitors who want to see how their favorite drink is made.
See also
