The explosion of global trade increased the demand for tea in the 1700-1800s and parallel expansion of colonialism throughout Asia reshaped the way the plant was cultivated.
This new demand saw the rise of large-scale tea gardens and estate farming and even the uprooting of ancient tea trees to be replaced with higher-yielding tea bushes

Colonial-era monocropping of tea, coffee, spices and textile crops have devastated the natural balance of entire regions. Not to mention the rise of unfair and unsafe labor practices

Extractive capitalism has incentivized the implementation of massive tea production operations that center quantity over quality. These practices are inherently embedded with labor exploitation and a concentration of wealth at the top that doesn't flow into the local economies. 

While countries have gained their political independence from foreign interference, the structures of hierarchy have remained in many places

The introduction of agrichemicals in the 20th century has compounded these problems and lead to the worsening conditions of soil and the surrounding ecosystems.

With the fast-paced changes in the climate, tea farmers are being faced with excessive heat, draughts, monsoons and floods, and new agricultural diseases. These changes are happening so fast it is hard for the people and plants to adapt