Darjeeling (52 page)

Plucking in Darjeeling is highly selective, can only be done by hand, and is made more challenging by the steep terrain. The average plucker produces under four hundred pounds of finished tea a year, less than a quarter of one in Assam.

After being weighed, freshly plucked tea leaves are withered overnight in long, narrow wooden troughs where they lose about two-thirds of their moisture. H. R. Chaudhary checks the leaves on Namring Tea Estate to see if they are ready to be rolled.

Rolling the withered leaves initiates the fermentation (or oxidation) process by rupturing the cells and releasing the natural juices of the leaves. When exposed to the air, they begin to oxidize, which acts as a catalyst for the characteristics associated with Darjeeling tea.

Once the leaves have been rolled, they are spread out on fermentation beds where they develop their pungency, strength, and aroma. Determining when the leaves have reached their peak and when the fermentation process needs to be immediately halted by firing them in a dryer is the most critical part of tea making.

The liquor—the infused liquid—of Darjeeling tea changes in color throughout the year. First flush teas are pale gold, often with a hint of green.

A range of second flush and monsoon teas on Goomtee Tea Estate. The liquor has deepened in color to amber, copper, and tawny. Teas from the final flush in autumn tend to be ruddy copper, bright auburn, or even burgundy.

A hand-stenciled sack of tea on Goomtee Tea Estate

Vijay Dhancholia conducts a daily tasting on Marybong Tea Estate with the assistant manager, Normal Chhetri.

Girish Sarda at Darjeeling’s storied tea store Nathmulls. Opened in 1931, Nathmulls sells around 150 different Darjeeling teas.

Christened “Tea Deva” by Rajah Banerjee when first found on Makaibari Tea Estate, the insect mimics a tea leaf.

The verandah of the Planters’ Club. Today it is officially known as the Darjeeling Club.

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First published 2015

© Jeff Koehler, 2015

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ISBN:    HB:    978-1-62040-512-3

               PB:    978-1-62040-513-0

             ePub:    978-1-62040-514-7

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Koehler, Jeff.

Darjeeling: the story of the world’s greatest tea in four harvests / Jeff Koehler.—First U.S. edition.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-62040-512-3 (hardcover) – ISBN 9781620405130 (paperback) – ISBN 978-1-62040-514-7 (ebook)

1. Tea trade—India—Darjeeling (District)—History. 2. Tea—India—Darjeeling (District)—History. I. Title. HD9198.I42K64 2015

338.1′7372—dc23

2014033312

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