India – Page 25 – Discovering Tea

In Darjeeling, an abandoned tea growers’ club

18 March 2011

The social life of tea growers is not what it used to be. Look what has become of one of the Darjeeling growers’ clubs today!

This magnificent building is in an advanced state of disrepair, and every time I pass it, not far from the Namring Tea Estate, it saddens me. Situated at the top of the valley and enjoying a magnificent view, its abandoned state sadly only seems to affect me.

Under British rule, and up to around 20 years ago, planters would meet at least once a week, and would value this special opportunity to get together. Today, there is greater competition, and television, like everywhere, is destroying social life. So people stay at home.

B157, P312 and AV2 : three cultivars from Darjeeling

15 March 2011

Here we have, from left to right: B157, P312 and AV2. These are their familiar names. Their full names are as follows: Bannockburn 157, Phoobsering 312 and Ambari Vegetative 2. They are cultivars, or “clonals”, as they are called here: tea plants created using different methods, generally by taking cuttings.

Each of the three cultivars has its advantages and disadvantages in terms of its weather hardiness and resistance to pests, its taste and aromatic qualities, and its productivity. They take their names from the plantation that created them.

These cultivars, along with some 30 others developed by the Tea Research Association, are suited to the Darjeeling region. Different cultivars are grown in other parts of the world.

Abhishek Dev, tea grower at Teesta Valley Tea Estate

11 March 2011

This is Abhishek Dev, the tea grower at the Teesta Valley Tea Estate. He is one of six brothers, and most of them work in the tea trade. He started out as assistant manager at Puttabong, then at Sungma, among others. He was then offered a position managing a plantation that was not in a good state.
Everyone in Darjeeling agrees that he has really improved the quality of the teas produced here.

Abhishek had quite a surprise for me when I visited him on 23 February. He had just produced a single lot, especially for me. Just ten kilos of tea, the first Darjeeling of the year, so it was quite an event. The very small quantity is due to the fact that the leaves have not grown much at this stage. So this is an exceptional plucking, due to both its earliness and because it is made up of only very young shoots. In the cup, it has a wonderful subtlety, the freshness of spring, and a unique vitality.

Visiting the Balasun tea plantation

8 March 2011

Last week I had the pleasure of visiting the Balasun plantation, in Darjeeling. The plantation got its name from the river Balasun, which runs below it. Anil Jha, who manages the Sungma Tea Estate, and who you can see beside me in this photo, also supervises the Risheehat Tea Estate and the Balasun Tea Estate. He is one of the most respected and most experienced growers in Darjeeling. There are only three or four others with his level of expertise – and authority. I admire him, and I’m also grateful to him, because he was the first person to teach me so much, here on these mountains. We first met 20 years ago, so he has seen me progress, professionally speaking.
Whenever we meet, we talk for hours, united by the same passion.

Tea grower’s bungalow in Teesta Valley

4 March 2011

This is the type of house I stay in when I’m in Darjeeling. It is a grower’s bungalow, and is typical of the region. There is one on each tea plantation, where the grower and his family live. I took this photo last week. When I woke, I sipped my early morning tea, served in bed as is the tradition, and waited for the sun’s rays to warm up the ground and flood the flower beds with light.

Darjeeling : tea trade is threatened

1 March 2011

The situation in Darjeeling has improved considerably. The road blocks have been lifted, the shops have reopened and life is getting back to normal. But the tea trade is still affected, as the party campaigning for independence is threatening to prevent the movement of trucks carrying the tea in a few weeks’ time, in order to demonstrate its political clout and bring negotiations to a conclusion.

However, this does not stop me from enjoying a quiet moment tasting teas, as I am about to do here at the Teesta Valley Tea Estate factory.

In Darjeeling, I have had to change my plans

25 February 2011

Because of the heightened unrest in Darjeeling this year, I have had to alter my plans. The movement in favour of the region’s independence will decide today whether or not to block all the roads and shut down the shops again. So instead of visiting the Balasun plantation in the Kurseong region, I have decided to take a detour east. My friend Abhishek Dev, the grower at the Teesta Valley Tea Estate, came to collect me a short while ago from Bagdogra airport, and took me to his bungalow. Teesta Valley Tea Estate is in the extreme east of Darjeeling and from here, I can decide whether to go to Darjeeling city or not, depending on the turn of events tomorrow. At least, thanks to Abhishek, I have the latest news from Darjeeling and on the forthcoming harvest. And this evening, I can also meet the growers from Gielle, Runglee Rungliot and maybe Namring. These four tea plantations, situated at quite a distance from Darjeeling city but, of course, within the prestigious “appellation”, are some of the most beautiful in the region. In this photo you can see the view I have from here, in the late afternoon, walking towards the Gielle Tea Estate.

Calcutta : a place I really love

22 February 2011

The City of Joy is also the city of tea. All the tea produced in Assam and Darjeeling is shipped from the port of Kolkata (also known as Calcutta), and the plantations in the north of India all have offices in the city. So I often come here, and go to tea tasting after tea tasting.

The city is unbelievably dilapidated. It is overpopulated, overcrowded, crumbling, stifling, humid and disgustingly dirty. It has a way of sucking the life out of you. Yet despite all this, I really love the place. I am happy in Kolkata.

Le Palais des Thés team in Tomsong

18 February 2011

This morning I left for Kolkata. From there I will travel to Darjeeling, probably on Tuesday. The spring harvest will begin soon, and it is time to visit a few plantations, find out more about the crop, and “test the temperature” of the region in more ways than one. Tea plants go to sleep in the winter, because of the cold, and wake up again when the air warms up. Inversely, the people get fired up during the winter months over the issue of independence, and cool down in the spring when the tea and tourist trades pick up again.

There is an important stage in tea processing that I am sorry not to be able to share with you: the “withering”. This involves blowing air – preferably cold – over the leaves, which give off an incredible fragrance like white flowers, lily and jasmine. In this photo taken in Tomsong in October 2010, during a trip with the team, everyone is cupping leaves in their hands and inhaling the wonderful aroma.

If you would like to see some other highlights from our trip, click on this link (in French):
http://www.palaisdesthes.com/fr/le-the/palais-des-thes-darjeeling.htm

Tea plants under clear sky in Thiashola

1 February 2011

On cold, grey days like these, we long for the heat of the sun and a glimpse of blue sky.

But tea plants are not like us; they like a bit of mist, and flourish in humid surroundings. They love it when the air is cool and visibility is reduced to a few metres. They are not so keen on a blue sky overhead.

I found this beautiful, rare, clear azure sky in Thiashola, in the Nilgiris mountains (India).