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Indian · VI The Beverage Tradition

Darjeeling Tea

Darjeeling and Kalimpong hills, West Bengal

‹ The Beverage Tradition

I

Origin

Darjeeling tea comes from the hill gardens of the district of that name in West Bengal, where the British colonial administration began planting the China variety of Camellia sinensis in the 1840s on slopes taken for a sanatorium and hill station. The gardens grew up on estates worked by Nepali-speaking and other hill communities, who still carry the plucking and the factory work today. Darjeeling is a protected Geographical Indication, and the name belongs only to tea grown and processed in the delimited district.

II

Description

Darjeeling is a tea of Camellia sinensis var. sinensis, plucked as two leaves and a bud and made most often as an orthodox, whole-leaf tea. The first flush of spring is pale and green-gold in the cup, the second flush of early summer fuller, amber and muscatel in character, and the autumn flush deeper and softer. The leaf is withered, rolled, oxidised lightly or moderately and fired dry, and is graded by leaf size, from whole leaf with tips down to broken grades and fannings. Green, white and oolong styles are also made in the district.

III

The Thread

—Both are teas of the early spring picking prized for the freshness of the first young leaf, and both are drunk plain, without milk or sugar, so that the leaf is heard clearly. Sencha is steamed to fix its green and grassy character, while Darjeeling is withered and oxidised, which gives the muscatel note and the amber cup. Japanese
—Both descend from the Chinese tea plant and both are made as whole-leaf teas shaped by withering, rolling and firing. Lapsang is dried over pine smoke and is assertive in the cup, whereas Darjeeling is fired clean and is valued for delicacy and aroma. Chinese
—The British habit of serving a light, lightly brewed black tea with thin sandwiches and cake is the tradition that first made the hill gardens a commercial undertaking. In Britain the tea is a companion to the table, while in the district itself it is often drunk plain in the cup as the subject. British
IV

Flavour Context

Darjeeling is drunk without milk, or with only the smallest cloud of it, and with plain foods: thin cucumber or butter sandwiches, shortbread, simple cakes and lightly salted biscuits. The structural reason is that the tea's value lies in its high aromatics and gentle astringency, which strong spice, sugar or fat would overwhelm. A little tannic grip against buttery or sweet baked foods cleans the palate between bites.

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