Posted on 09/22/2007 7:44:46 PM PDT by JACKRUSSELL
(DARJEELING) -- Did you ever bother to spare a thought for your bed tea? If not, it’s time you check out the brand of tea you consume every day. And, if you find it to be ‘Darjeeling Tea’ be cautious. Chances of it being a mix of a small quantity of ‘Darjeeling Tea’ and blends made from inferior tea from other regions are very high.
In fact, four times more tea than was actually being grown in the region was being sold as ‘Darjeeling’ in blends bulked out with inferior tea from other regions, causing a major dip in consumer confidence.
Fears of ‘Darjeeling Tea’ losing its charm have been growing for quite sometime now. Another factor added to the worries of ‘Darjeeling Tea’ producers was the plantations’ heavy dependence on fertilisers and pesticides that were being hawked by foreign corporations.
In the recent days, there is a wind of optimism blowing through the Darjeeling hills, and a growing sense that Darjeeling Tea is on its way to reclaiming its legendary status.
The first obvious step in the right direction was to protect the Darjeeling name. The Darjeeling Planters’ Association and the Central government have negotiated a geographical-origin trademark, approved by the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Now any tea that calls itself ‘Darjeeling’ must be 100 per cent from the region.
In another move, several of the top-rated tea gardens — Selimbong, Seeyok, Samabeong, Singell, Makaibari and Ambootia — have converted to organic production.
Self-interest may be influencing the newer organic recruits. A surge in consumer concern about chemicals in food and drink has caused Darjeeling’s best customers — Japan, Germany, the UK and, increasingly, France and the US — to impose stricter pesticide-residue limits. In Germany, where there is a profusion of specialist teashops, certain chains now have in-house laboratories to test for residues. Some packers of conventionally grown Darjeeling have had to blend it with organic tea to bring down the residues to an acceptable level. Whatever the motivation, organic tea is really taking off.
Even the labour force welcomed the move. They said before, chemicals were hampering their health. It was like poison. They used to fall sick quite often with coughs, headaches and chest pains. The chemicals were so strong and they didn't have masks. Now they can breathe fresh air again.
In all the organic gardens that are owned by Tea Promoters India, the once-serried tea bushes have now been interplanted with trees like wild cherry and plants such as lemongrass and sunflower that feed the soil with nitrogen and also stabilise it so it cannot be washed away during monsoons.
Chemical fertilisers have been replaced by natural worm composts, manures and biodynamic preparations made from plants such as yarrow and nettle, with impressive results. When there is any sign of the dreaded tea mosquito, the patch affected is sprayed with a natural insecticide, which is derived from the neem tree.
Darjeeling is one of the few remaining tea-growing regions in the world that still remains faithful to the higher-cost ‘orthodox’ tea production method which begins with the labour-intensive, hand-plucked 'two leaves and a bud' of new growth. It takes a painstaking 20,000 individually plucked shoots to produce just one kilo of tea.
It’s mind-boggling how, when gently withered, rolled, oxidised and dried under the vigilant eye of an experienced tea maker, the same bushes can produce such a diverse sequence of teas. It starts with the fresh, slightly astringent first flushes from the most succulent new spring leaves with their floral scents that tickle the German palate. Then come the second flushes, munched by summer greenfly, which gives them the characteristic 'muscatel' scent unique to Darjeeling, which so excites Japanese buyers. Quality dips with monsoon teas, which are too damp to produce great results, but returns in the form of the stronger, smokier autumnal teas.
Within these seasonal categories there are further variations; pure, refined ‘China’ teas made from the original bushes imported from China 150 years ago, more vigorous ‘clonal’ teas bred for specific growing situations from the best-performing bushes, and semi-fermented Oolongs, still made in the time-honoured way where the leaves are sun-dried and turned every 45 minutes.
These teas from top Darjeeling estates have always found a market among connoisseurs. But now the organic Fairtrade tea revolution is spreading like wildfire among independent farmers, previously marginalised by the traditional plantation system.
Whether it's the family farmer or a big tea estate, the new wave of organic and Fairtrade tea production sweeping through the region is breathing a new life into Darjeeling. But as one of the few regions in the world still producing labour-intensive, classic tea, Darjeeling will always be vulnerable to cheaper, commercial teas from countries where production costs are lower. Unless, that is, consumers are able to appreciate the difference in quality.
Tea was originally introduced to Darjeeling region in 1841 by a Scottish surgeon, Dr Campbell. The British grew tea more as a supply for the army than as a commercial crop, producing it in a traditional way, without chemicals. After India became independent in 1947, they sold up to wealthy Indians, imbued with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s policy of rapid industrialisation. The push was on to make the tea gardens as ‘productive’ as possible. The new owners dismantled the carefully constructed terraces that had stabilised the soil, cut down trees to pack in more tea bushes, and turned with great enthusiasm to the miraculous new generation of chemical fertilisers and pesticides that were being hawked by foreign corporations. This break from natural tea production proved disastrous and the effects started taking a heavy toll on the industry in the recent past. Alarmed over this, the planters are now desperately trying to revive the old methods of tea production once again. Hope they succeed in their mission.
Darjeeling is strong tea...I prefer the unique Lapsang Suchong variety myself....(Lapsang Suchong, Chinese for “Scum of the Earthâ€)
Really? I think of Darjeeling as a mild, flowery tea, compared to Lapsang — that is considered a really strong tea - it’s just too smoky for me, if I want smoke flavor I’ll drink Islay Scotch.
I think if you get it from a reputable maker like Twinings or Fortnum & Mason, it will be the real thing. Like Kona coffee, it is much more expensive, but worth it.
Here is the canonical recipe for tea making, handed down from my English grandmother:
I was summoned for this task by my parents most afternoons after about the age of ten, and am passing it on to my kids. My wife has totally converted to tea and drinks less coffee than I do. There really is no finer or more refreshing non-alcoholic drink in the afternoon, even on a relatively hot day.
Quote: Chemical fertilisers have been replaced by natural worm composts, manures and biodynamic preparations made from plants such as yarrow and nettle, with impressive results. When there is any sign of the dreaded tea mosquito, the patch affected is sprayed with a natural insecticide, which is derived from the neem tree.
= =
Sounds like a good system, I say, as I sip my herbal tea at ten past midnight.
ping
Dear ccmay, Thank you for the canonical recipe for tea making, handed down from your English grandmother.
Interesting that it’s better to pour the hot tea into the cold milk than vice versa.
I found this interesting: ‘The first cup you pour out will be the best and should be given to your most honored guest.’
Steep 3.5 minutes? I thought it was supposed to be five minutes.
For folks who want their tea sweetened, what type do you recommend, and at what point should it be added?
I do make my tea by boiling water it in a teakettle on my stove. I changed to green tea about a year ago, but I drink it without milk or any sweetener, just plain: They say green tea’s very good for you.
I drink hot tea year round. (I gave up a 25-year coffee habit a couple years ago.)
Thanks for sharing your expertise with us.
Joya
It really, truly does make a difference. There is much more flavor and texture when you put the tea into the milk.
I found this interesting: ‘The first cup you pour out will be the best and should be given to your most honored guest.’
Probably just a tradition with no basis in fact. But if you're going to do it, why not do it the way your ancestors did it?
Steep 3.5 minutes? I thought it was supposed to be five minutes.
Really, after about a minute, most of the essence of the tea has already been removed from the leaf. If you like it better at 5 minutes, carry on.
For folks who want their tea sweetened, what type do you recommend, and at what point should it be added?
I never use it, but I would say after you've mixed the milk and tea.
I like green tea too, but black tea will always be my favorite.
When my dad was in the British Army (a very long story), they stopped the war for teatime. Seriously -- at 4 o'clock, if they were en route somewhere, the entire column would pull over, out would come the little stoves (or half a fuel jerrycan with a handful of sand and a splash of petrol in the bottom) and the kettles, and the whole group would "brew up". 4:30 - "Right then, war's back on," and everybody would pile back into the trucks and head on their way.
I like to study this site, too. The tea is very pretty. There should be tea clubs like there are wine tasting clubs. Sometimes I think my alternate life should have been a fine tea importer. https://www.adagio.com/green/green_sampler.html?SID=f81f439a0705f9a9da837967c9703bda
I have that tea. I bought it from a different place but it looks the same.
There are so many teas and some can be very expensive. They are enjoyable to try. If you ever get a chance to get to China visit a tea house. You will spend hours there. When I go with my Chinese friends we eat, drink tea, play Chinese Chess and talk for hours.
Yes, to me, green tea is an acquired taste, at least unsweetened green tea is, and I’m glad I made the effort to learn to like it. I have been buying it at Sam’s Club, two 100-count boxes of Uncle Lee’s Legends of China organic green tea for about six or seven dollars lasts me a good while.
I have hot tea in the morning. THEN I keep some tea bags at work and drop one into my room temperature bottled water and it flavors the water in a short while — I tell my coworkers it’s fluorescent tea (as opposed to sun tea). Again, I drink that unsweetened. That’s got to be healthier than those little crystal light packets folks are dumping into bottled water. And MUCH cheaper than Lipton’s flavored green tea that’s $6 for a dozen plastic bottles of tea.
I look forward to my mug of tea every morning. At least that’s one painless thing we can do for our health. If only I were as diligent with other dietary disciplines.
Hot tea is a wonderful thing. I’m told that when my dad was a boy, his father and grandmother had hot tea with supper every night. We’re of English descent, so maybe it’s inherited.
I’m glad to be freed of having to wait five minutes for my tea to steep.
I truly appreciate all you’ve shared. I will buy some loose darjeeling tea and some whole milk next time I’m at the grocery and will think of you when I fix it. Thanks!
What an excellent idea, to just go ahead a make a quart’s worth.
Funny about waiting five minutes. My morning routine is to put on the tea kettle, take my SAM-e tablet with a swig of water, get my oatmeal or my bagel ready, and wait for the tea kettle to whistle. When it does, I fix my green tea, and then go back to my bedroom and get ready. By the time I get back to the kitchen, it’s been more than five minutes, so I discard the teabag and start drinking that tea. My first sip of tea in the morning is truly a good moment in my day, usually followed by a big, ahhhhhhh, my tea!
But I am glad to know for times when I haven’t wandered off to do other stuff that I don’t HAVE to wait five minutes.
Grame, salut, and cheerio!
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