Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Tea
445
Darjeeling's Tea Estates
The Champagne of Teas
Darjeeling, India
Though it only accounts for 3% of India's
total tea output, Darjeeling gets all the
glory—and rightly so. It's a romantically
remote area, for one thing, surrounding a
picturesque hill station where British offi-
cers once fled to escape India's brutal
summers. You can traverse its vertiginous
slopes on a bright-blue steam-powered
railway so cunningly tiny, it's nicknamed
the Toy Train. But that evocative setting is
one thing; the delicately floral, aromatic
flavor of Darjeeling tea is the region's real
claim to fame.
Often called “gardens,” 87 estates
spread across these steep, misty slopes.
In March, workers (mostly ethnic Nepali
women) deftly pluck Darjeeling's much-
touted “first flush” harvest from the bris-
tling green bushes; teas plucked in May
and June are only slightly less superb. The
most prestigious estate in the area—the
one whose teas routinely fetch the world's
highest prices—is
Makaibari,
just south
of Kurseong (25km/16 miles south of Dar-
jeeling), which has been run by the Baner-
jee family since the 1840s. Under its
enterprising fourth-generation owner,
Rajah Banerjee, the plantation's slope-
hugging fields are now completely organic
and biodynamic; he has even added bun-
galows and bedrooms in the vintage Stone
House for tourists staying overnight. After
walking the fields, you can explore the
Victorian-era factory, where tea leaves are
processed by the so-called “orthodox”
method: withered in large troughs, rolled
under steel rollers to release natural juices,
left in a cool room to ferment, then baked,
sorted, graded, and packed for shipping.
Naturally, a tea tasting follows.
Just 6km (3
1
⁄
2
miles) below Kurseong,
you can tour another renowned organic/
biodynamic/fair trade estate,
Ambootia.
Founded in 1861, it's an inspiring example
of how an old plantation, virtually farmed
out by the 1990s, restored the soil with
new agricultural techniques and devel-
oped a boutique brand of organic tea. To
see a similar Cinderella story in progress,
visit the
Happy Valley Tea Estate
just
3km (2 miles) north of Darjeeling. Estab-
lished in 1854, it's now being revived by
Ambootia's organic wizards.
Also in Kurseong (the name means
“land of the white orchid”), the
Goomtee
Tea Estate
offers accommodations in a
tastefully spare planter's house, with big
windows overlooking magnificent sur-
rounding gardens. Planted in 1899, the
fields at Goomtree are organically farmed,
the processing factory is orthodox, and
meals are totally vegetarian, which seems
in keeping with the Zen-like peacefulness
of the place. The uphill hike to the outlying
tea fields is strenuous, but the views at the
top are worth it (if necessary, they can
drive you).
The
Glenburn Tea Estate
affords the
region's most luxurious accommodations,
an hour and a half from Darjeeling. Visitors
stay in a smartly restored, century-old
planter's house on the edge of a plateau,
with a Shangri-La-like view across the
Rangeet River Valley. This 648-hectare
(1,600-acre) plantation was founded in
1860 as the Scottish Tea Company; nowa-
days it's run by the Prakash family and pro-
duces its own upscale brand of tea. Guests
can view the fields, observe the on-site fac-
tory, enjoy a tasting session, or visit the
tea-plant nursery with its own orange
grove—source of the marmalade served
during afternoon tea on the verandah.
Glenburn may be getting some compe-
tition with the new
Tumsong Retreat,
an
upscale four-bedroom hideaway in a white
