Darjeeling tea
In 2024 the Tea Board of India recorded 5.6 million kg of Darjeeling. People in the trade reckon at least three times that much is sold under the name. Here is how the people who taste it for a living buy the real thing.
Photo: Nepal Tea Collective
Late February to April
Plucked from late February, most of it in March and April. A pale, almost green cup, floral and grassy, with a little astringency at the end. It is the flush people fight over and the first to fade, so drink it within the year you buy it.
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May and June
Copper liquor, a fuller body and the muscatel note the district is famous for. If you want the cup Darjeeling is known for, and the one that keeps best, this is the safer present to carry home.
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July to November
Monsoon teas, July to September, are bigger leaf, darker and plainer, and mostly go into blends. Autumn flush, October and November, is amber, rounder and softer. The trade drinks it at home, and it is usually the best value on the shelf.
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Reading the packet
The garden's name, such as Makaibari, Glenburn, Castleton, Margaret's Hope or Jungpana. The flush and the year, because tea has a vintage. A lot or invoice number. A net weight with a packing date. A tin that offers a mood and a mountain instead goes back.
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The grade letters
Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe, grade one: long unbroken leaf with plenty of golden tip. Below the whole-leaf grades come broken, fannings and dust, smaller pieces for tea bags. A shop that leans hard on the letters is selling you the leaf.
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The round mark
Darjeeling was India's first geographical indication, in 2004, and only the 87 estates the Tea Board recognises may sell their tea under the name. Its round mark, drawn in 1983, is the strongest signal on a shelf. 'Darjeeling blend' and 'Darjeeling style' are not Darjeeling.
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Laden La Road and Nehru Road
At the garden shop if you stay on an estate. In town, Nathmull's, tea merchants since 1931, at 19 Laden La Road, or Golden Tips on Nehru Road, selling since 1933. Name the flush, name two gardens and ask to taste first. A good merchant expects it.
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Getting it home
Keep leaf away from light, heat, coffee and spices, and out of the fridge once opened. Whole leaf crushes in the hold and broken leaf brews harsher. The surest place to buy any flush is in these hills, in its own season, after a taste.
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