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.

Dry leaves:

Make: The leaf is bold and flaunts that it is gently hand rolled. This is possible with emerald because it comes in small quantities.

Visual: Dark green chunky leaves with a mix of slight light green textures here and there.

Feel: The feel of the leaves are delicately crispy and if you apply some force to hold them the leaves may crack to bits and pieces.

Dry Aroma: I have this tendency to rub the dry leaves and consume the smell before I taste any tea. The smell is savory salty with a hint of lime.

Quite perplexed with the dry leaf smell, I start off with the preparation with two table spoons full of leaves in my guywan. Two table spoons full is a lot of leaves and nearly a quarter of my guywan is full. My water is boiled and kept aside to cool, so that I can use it only after it cools down to 70-80 C.

Steep 1 for 1 minute: The leaves have not fully unfurled but the liquor that steeps out is clear light green. The taste is light salty sea weed, vegetal like broccoli and has leaves a sweet hay like aftertaste. I must say that teas often carry qualities of their origin. I can relate a good Japanese gyokuro with this first cup.

Steep 2 for 1 minute: The leaves have unfurled into dark green whole leaves accompanied by green buds. The taste is mellower but now the sweet notes more prominent towards a citrus finish. Amazingly now the environment has taken its toll into the making of this tea. The cup is mellower and I can feel Darjeeling in my olfactory.

Most Darjeeling greens acquire a dry finish but emerald is a comfortable and smooth cup, enjoying this tea makes me wonder about this fusion. Japanese plants in Darjeeling? I wonder how and what made Mr.Saria to go to this length of importing Japanese tea plants all the way to Darjeeling to make few Kilograms of Emerald. As there are already many tea gardens selling green tea in the name of emerald. But it was worth the effort! My only suggestion to Mr.Saria is to give it another name…uh……like…..????

Still guessing!