Two leaves and a bud

Tea garden workers are not informed of the prices the tea is sold for in western markets. The housing and medical facilities inside the tea estates are often rudimentary. Radha Thakuri is one of the pluckers living inside a ramshackle tin house and cannot buy her son books for the school. For her, the international success of brand Darjeeling has meant little. Read full story: Simmering discontent over tea

Two leaves and a bud

First flush Darjeeling tea is trucked to the factory. Read full story: Simmering discontent over tea Photograph by: Sayantan Bera      

Two leaves and a bud

Despite the challenges, brand Darjeeling is earning premium returns from western markets. Coupled with Organic and Fair Trade labels, Darjeeling retails between Rs 2,000 to Rs 18,000 internationally. Tea estates earn 70 percent of their incomes through exports. Read full story: Simmering discontent over tea Photograph by: Sayantan Bera      

Two leaves and a bud

A worker sits by pruned tea bushes. The average age of tea bushes in Darjeeling is 85 years and falling productivity is a cause for concern. Erratic rainfall and the transition to organic forms of cultivation, say planters, have made a dent in productivity. Read full story: Simmering discontent over tea Photograph by: Sayantan Bera    

Two leaves and a bud

The ubiquitous ‘Gorkhaland’ sign on a meat shop. The hills have seen a resurgence in the demand for separate statehood within the Indian federation. The ethnic Gorkhas, a majority in the hills, came to Darjeeling over 150 years ago, from across the border in Nepal as labourers to work in the tea gardens. Read full story: Simmering discontent over tea Photograph by: Sayantan Bera

Two leaves and a bud

A women plucks first flush Darjeeling at the Happy Valley tea estate. The wage rise was a pitiful Rs 14 in the last 11 years, until the recent hike of Rs 23 in a go, the largest in the history of tea gardens. Read full story: Simmering discontent over tea Photograph by: Sayantan Bera    

Two leaves and a bud

The prime ‘first flush’ Darjeeling tea is withered at a factory. The politically strong labor union had put an embargo on its dispatch, demanding a raise in wages and better welfare benefits for the 55,000 permanent workers of tea gardens. Read full story: Simmering discontent over tea Photograph by: Sayantan Bera      

Two leaves and a bud

Organic tea and ‘Gorkhaland’ share window space at the iconic Keventers Café in the Darjeeling hills. Darjeeling is known for its signature teas and is a popular tourist destination, north of West Bengal. Read full story: Simmering discontent over tea Photograph by: Sayantan Bera      

Simmering discontent over tea

Tea grown on the steep slopes of Darjeeling hills, connoisseurs swear, is unlike anywhere else in the world. Epicures use a plethora of adjectives to describe the “champagne of teas”: brisk, flowery, round, mellow and sparkling. Brewed properly, the Darjeeling tea leaves yield a thin-bodied, light-coloured liquor with a floral aroma and a musky spiciness leading tea connoisseurs to label a variety of the tea as muscatel. At the luxury Harrod’s store in London a muscatel retails at over Rs 9,000 a kg. The famed Makaibari gardens sell what the estate calls “the world’s most expensive tea—Silver Tips Imperial. Reputed to “cull one to celestial slumber”, it is priced at US $20 (Rs 900) for a 50 gm pack.

Organic certification and technology

Happy Valley tea estate at an altitude of about 1,980 metres was once “sick and abandoned”. It now supplies organic tea to Harrods in London. For Anjan Medhi, manager of the estate, green manuring is no less of an art compared to tasting the brew. Cow pat pit, a fermented concoction of broken egg shells and basalt salt mixed with cow dung, is a bio-dynamic preparation that acts as a rich source of nutrients besides strengthening tea bushes against pest attacks.