Archive for April, 2009
Hand Made Rare Teas of Darjeeling
This weekend I made a trip to a village called Dabaipani (Mineral Springs). It is 30 minutes drive from Darjeeling town, but I had to spend few days there to find what I was looking for.
This village consists of 14 hamlets widely spread across 1200 acres of hills. They are a part of the erstwhile Harrison’s and Mineral Springs Tea Estate, which closed down sometime in 1950.
Post 1950 the people survived selling: tea leaves to neighboring gardens, firewood, timber and charcoal from the garden reserve forest, which comprised about 600 acres of land. Post 1960 with the hope of the garden opening receding and the reserve forest depleting rapidly, the people started grabbing the land and started cultivating traditional food grains. The land grabbing was based on might so the people own anything from ½ acre to 12 acres of land. Continue Reading
The idea of brewing a Darjeeling Oolong Gong Fu style had occurred to me in my tea adventures in China, but I had to find the right tea for this .
This week I did find one!The Eagles Cliff Oolong is what i am going to name it. It is a wonderful experience for a Darjeeling Oolong lover like me. Multiple steeping of a first flush Oolong in a “Guy wan” (In Darjeeling the Tibetans call it “Thakye”).
I selected this beautiful hand crafted small estate tea from Giddapahar (Eagles Cliff) and I think it rivals those from the highly acclaimed Oolongs of China and Taiwan.
Appearance: Colorful, roundish, brittle and rock like dry leaves, this first flush appears to me like a smaller version of a Taiwanese brother, Oolong.
Because of the unusual leaf appearance, I thought of doing a photo illustrated blog. Continue Reading
Due to the adverse weather conditions and late approached rain; most of the high-grown Exotic Darjeeling first flush teas are yet to arrive, but I’ve found one.
As I sip and slurp through my tasting ritual, cup after cup I try to imagine the processing that these leaves have gone through.
The amount of care achieved reflects in the infused leaves and glittering cups, but the final say goes with the embedded flavor the tea carries.
It is very difficult to select amongst the Darjeeling first flush because almost every make and single estate label carries a significant character of its own. It needs sharp precision and for me almost wild imagination to select one.
The one that I have selected is a single estate hand rolled Oolong which is distinctive and made in a very small quantity. This comes from a plantation in the Mirik valley of Darjeeling district, Soureni. Continue Reading
