Taking a Tea tour in the Himalayas

Makaibari tea estate, Kurseong

Matt Gross finds his way around tea estates in the Himalayas to recommend a visit:

Flying to a remote corner of India and braving the long drive into the Himalayas may seem like an awful lot of effort for a good cup of tea, but Darjeeling tea isn't simply good. It's about the best in the world, fetching record prices at auctions in Calcutta and Shanghai, and kick-starting the salivary glands of tea lovers from London to Manhattan.

In fact, Darjeeling is so synonymous with high-quality black tea that few non-connoisseurs realize it's not one beverage but many: 87 tea estates operate in the Darjeeling district, a region that sprawls across several towns (including its namesake) in a mountainous corner of India that sticks up between Nepal and Bhutan, with Tibet not far to the north.

Each has its own approach to growing tea, and in a nod to increasingly savvy and adventurous consumers, a few have converted bungalows into tourist lodging, while others are accepting day visitors keen to learn the production process, compare styles and improve their palates — a teetotaler's version of a Napa Valley wine tour, but with no crowds.

The men who run the estates are royalty — and they know it. When visiting their domains, you are at their disposal, not the other way around. At times, this can be frustrating; at others, delightfully frustrating.

I had my first such encounter — the latter sort — at Makaibari, an estate just south of the town of Kurseong, around 4,500 feet above sea level. Founded by G. C. Banerjee in the 1840s, during the region's first great wave of tea cultivation, Makaibari remains a family operation, run by Banerjee's great-grandson Swaraj — better known as Rajah.

Rajah is a Darjeeling legend: He's arguably done more for Darjeeling tea than anyone else in the district. Back in 1988, he took the estate organic; four years later, it was fully biodynamic, the first in the world.

Today, it produces the most expensive brew in Darjeeling, a “muscatel” that sold for 50,000 rupees a kilogram (about $555 a pound, at exchange rates of around 41 rupees to the dollar) at auction in Beijing last year.

Enjoying tea at Makaibari was an involved business, one that began before I'd even woken up. At 7:30 every morning, a knock would come at the door of my bungalow, and Mr. Lama, the grandfatherly caretaker, would present me with a cup of fresh, hot “bed tea,” which I'd sip groggily before leaving my woolen blankets for the chilly mountain air.

As with wine, tasting tea is no simple process of gulping and grading.

In the factory, massive steel machines were turning the harvest into drinkable tea by the “orthodox” method. After 16 to 20 hours in withering troughs that remove much of their moisture, the fresh leaves go into rollers that curl them into precise formations once achieved only by hand. Then comes the fermentation, during which the tea develops its flavor, becoming a half-fermented oolong or a fully fermented black tea. Next the tea is fired — baked — to stop the fermentation, and the leaves are sorted, graded, packed and sent to the tasting room for Mr. Banerjee's approval.

Tea estates of Darjeeling

VISITING THE TEA ESTATES

Makaibari (91-354-233-0181; www.makaibari.org) charges 750 rupees a person a night or 1,400 rupees for two, all meals included. Reservations can be made through its Calcutta office (91-33-2287-8560). Homestays with Makaibari workers can also be arranged.

Those seeking more comfortable lodging can book Cochran Place (132 Pankhabari Road, Kurseong; 91-354-233-0703; www.imperialchai.com), a colonial-style lodge about 15 minutes' walk from Makaibari. Doubles range from 2,200 to 3,700 rupees with breakfast, but 50 percent less during monsoon season, mid-August to mid-September. Cochran Place will also arrange tours of Ambootia, another organic estate.

Glenburn (91-33-2288-5630; www.glenburnteaestate.com) charges non-Indians $400 a night for two, all meals included; day trips from $50 a person, including transportation. Glenburn will arrange helicopter arrivals for those unwilling to brave the bumpy journey.

Reservations for Goomtee (www.darjeelingteas.com) are handled by Girish Sarda at Nathmull's Tea Room in Darjeeling (91-354-233-5066). Doubles are 5,600 rupees a night, all meals included.

The best place to stay in Darjeeling town is the Elgin (91-354-225-4082; www.elginhotels.com). Doubles with all meals are 6,445 rupees. It offers quite a nice high tea every afternoon (250 rupees).

BUYING TEA

Every estate sells its own tea at a good price, but for the full spectrum, head to Nathmull's Tea Room (Laden La Road, Darjeeling; 91-354-225-6437; www.nathmulltea.com). It sells the best of the district, except Makaibari.

More: New York Times

Tags: Tea Himalaya



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