Chai piyo mast jiyo!
Drink tea, live carefree!
by Nicole P., Tea Buyer
In 1953, the Tea Act was put into place to standardize tea production in India. The Tea Board of India was created to assist in setting the standard and regulations from propagation of plants to sales of the final tea product and everything in between. Improving quality, setting standards, promoting consumption and cooperative efforts are a few aspects the Tea Board of India covers. Long before this time, tea was grown in the country. In the late 1830s, the British East India Company started the mass cultivation of tea when the first Assam tea estate opened for commercial production.
Assam is located in northeast India along the Eastern Himalayas, and tea estates surround the Brahmaputra River, which is said to be a lifeline for Assam. The river provides fresh water as well as rich soil deposits. The climate is tropical with a monsoon season, perfect for growing tea. Robert Bruce was the Scottish adventurer who discovered wild tea plants growing in Assam in the 1820s and, by the 1830s, commercial production of tea was established. Assam is the top tea producing region in India. Most breakfast tea blends contain Assam tea, and it is typically the base used for Chai tea, the popular black tea blended with spices. Most of the tea plucked in Assam is processed into black tea, which is rich, robust, and has a malty character. Currently, Upton Tea Imports carries over thirty different lots of Assam tea with single-estate offerings arriving fresh each year. Two of our most popular estates are Mangalam (TA136) and Hattialli (TA142).
Darjeeling is located along the northwest Himalayas, in the state of West Bengal. The tea that comes from Darjeeling is considered ‘The Champagne of Teas.’ It is unique because it has a few distinct plucking seasons, each very special in its own way. Upton Tea Imports is well known for bringing in and offering the very first Darjeeling tea from the first flush season each year. The first flush season celebrates the first harvests of the year in early spring. The tea bushes have just woken up from their winter dormancy, and the tea leaves grow slowly. Prized for their delicate, complex flavors and enthralling aromas, the first flush tea lots are very small and exotic. The second flush season begins in late spring and continues into summer. The teas are darker than the first flush harvest and are known for their prized muscatel flavor. A nice tea moment would be to cup and compare a first flush and a second flush from the same estate and discover the difference in flavor profiles, based on when the tea was plucked. It is quite remarkable. Darjeeling teas are distinctly different from Assam teas. There is no malt in the cup, but the flavors are complex. A highly sought-after region year after year, Upton Tea Imports is well known for having a large Darjeeling tea assortment. Currently, we have tea lots from twenty-two different estates as well as some blends. Teas harvested in Darjeeling must have a Certificate of Origin that states all leaves were grown in the specific geographical confines. This helps maintain the authentic treasure that is Darjeeling tea.
Right next to Darjeeling is the Dooars region. The style of Dooars tea is similar to Darjeeling but it cannot be called Darjeeling because it lays outside the specific geographical confines. We have sourced Dooars tea from the Nuxalbari Estate, a woman-run estate that caters to the elephants that pass through the tea garden during their yearly migrations. We love comparing Darjeeling tea to Dooars tea because you can taste that the terroir is similar, but the processing styles are different. Dooars tea is processed more like Assam tea. Their English Breakfast and Chai selections are bold but bright. Sonia Jabbar, the owner and tea maker at Nuxalbari, is an amazing woman. She is a part of the process from seed to cup and she cares deeply about the environment and sustainability. She has made her tea estate “elephant friendly” by creating an environment where the mighty animals can pass through safely without any major damage to the tea bushes or disruptions by humans. We are lucky to have her as a dear tea friend. Explore and sample her teas and find a new favorite.
All three regions — Assam, Darjeeling and Dooars — are in the same northeast area of the country. To visit the Nilgiri tea growing region, we will travel to the Blue Mountains in southern India, where the teas produced are full-bodied and bright. They may be enjoyed with milk or plain. Nilgiri experiences two monsoon seasons but tea is plucked in the winter months when the colder nights transform the tea leaves. This is when the treasured Frost Tea is produced. Most Nilgiri teas are lower in tannins, producing a cup with no astringency, a vast difference in comparison to Assam teas. Also, most teas grown in Nilgiri are from small farms rather than large estates. Nilgiri is a must-try tea region for any black tea connoisseur.
We are very passionate about our Indian teas and look forward to new harvests every year. Cupping hundreds of samples every year, we hand select each lot we bring in. We are always looking for Valued Customer favorites as well as new and unique offerings. We are grateful for adventurers such as Robert Fortune, the botanist who brought tea to India and the subject of our last two Upton Tea Quarterly articles. For the final part of the adventure, we suggest comparing these regions for yourself. We hope you have enjoyed this adventure of tea in India. What an amazing country that is passionate and takes great pride in their tea. Chai piyo mast jiyo!