Darjeeling is so synonymous with black tea but our purpose is to share and educate our followers and readers about exotic Darjeeling’s. We would like to introduce you to a green tea variety that I found to be most exotic of all Darjeeling’s.

This tea is called “Emerald Green” because of the prominent deep green color it carries all through the steeps. This is a picking from a small family owned garden called” Gopaldhara”. Gopaldhara is tucked high up as 2121 meters above sea level in the Mirik valley of Darjeeling District. An estate that comprises of 172 hectares of gentle hills planted with tea. Among this plantation a small section of the garden about 8 hectares have been occupied by plants imported from Japan. ( 12000 nos tea bushes are planted in one hectare) It usually takes 8-12 years of grooming for a young tea plant to yield a standard harvest, in Darjeeling climatic conditions.

The producer, Mr. Saria claims that the origin of this plant variety is of very high quality Japanese seed culture and I do completely agree with him after tasting the leaves. The hard work Mr.Saria has put into to produce such a small quantity of tea is just amazing. Mr.Saria is one of the pioneer tea planters as well as a respected tea master of Darjeeling and his teas deliver and share with us more than 50 years of enduring experience in Darjeeling.

Emerald is a rare picking because these tea bushes flush or regenerate, periodically in a year. I picked the teas that came off an October first week flush, so in Darjeeling terms lets call it an autumnal green Darjeeling tea.

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