For all you tea connoisseurs out there, your tea experience is incomplete until you've tasted the "Champagne of Teas" - Darjeeling Tea. For a tea to be called Darjeeling, it needs to come from the Darjeeling district of West Bengal, India.
So what makes Darjeeling tea so special?
Darjeeling Tea is the only tea in the world to get protection under the Geographical Indication (GI) trademark. It is said that these teas are the highest elevation produced teas world over and it is the altitude that creates an ideal environment for the tea plant. The result is that the teas grown here are imparted with a unique muscatel flavour and special aroma.
Since Darjeeling tea is grown exclusively in select tea plantations at the foothills of the Himalayas spread across the district of Darjeeling, only approximately 11,000 tons of tea is produced each year from the official Darjeeling region. This contributes to around 1% of the total tea production of India. However, as John Lasseter is famously known to have said “ quality is the best business plan” and it seems to be working out pretty well for Darjeeling tea.
Another feature that sets Darjeeling tea a class apart from the rest is the fact that in today’s day and age where mechanization has taken over almost every manufacturing and packaging process, it is still processed in the traditional “Orthodox” way. Which means the teas are 100% hand-cultivated and produced; with a tremendous level of care, experience, and expertise in the handling and manufacture of the Pure Darjeeling tea leaves.
Darjeeling teas are seasonally harvested and hence available only for limited periods of time. First flush is harvested in mid-March following spring rains. It is a black tea with a lot of silvery tips and a very light colour, aroma, and mild astringency. Leaves that are plucked during the second harvest in June, comprise the second flush and produce an amber, full-bodied cup. As the intensity of the sun gets stronger during the summer, so does the flavor of this black tea and it is known to be one of the most complex black teas the world produces.
If you’re wondering where you can buy some of this glorious tea, you can check out our online store, but hurry because it’s available with us only for a limited time till the stock for the season lasts.
