Darjeeling tea is a tea made from Camellia sinensis var. sinensis that is grown and processed in Darjeeling district or Kalimpong district in West Bengal, India. Since 2004, the term Darjeeling tea has been a registered geographical indication referring to products produced on certain estates within Darjeeling and Kalimpong. The tea leaves are processed as black tea, though some estates have expanded their product offerings to include leaves suitable for making green, white, and oolong teas.
The tea leaves are harvested by plucking the plant's top two leaves and the bud, from March to November, a time span that is divided into four flushes. The first flush consists of the first few leaves grown after the plant's winter dormancy and produce a light floral tea with a slight astringency; this flush is also suitable for producing a white tea. Second flush leaves are harvested after the plant has been attacked by a leafhopper and the camellia tortrix so that the leaves create a tea with a distinctive muscatel aroma. The warm and wet weather of monsoon flush rapidly produces leaves but they are less flavorful and often used for blending. The autumn flush produces teas similar to, but more muted than, the second flush.
Tea plants were first planted in the Darjeeling region in the mid-1800s. At the time, the British were seeking an alternative supply of tea apart from China and attempted growing the plant in several candidate areas in India. Both the newly discovered assamica variety and the sinensis variety were planted but the sloped drainage, cool winters and cloud cover favoured var. sinensis. The British established numerous tea plantations, with the majority of workers being Gorkhas and Lepchas from Nepal and Sikkim. After independence, the estates were all subsequently sold to businesses in India and regulated under the laws of India. The Soviet Union replaced the British as the primary consumers of tea from Darjeeling. As Darjeeling tea gained a reputation for its distinctiveness and quality, it was marketed more to Western Europe with many estates acquiring organic, biodynamic and Fairtrade certifications and the Tea Board of India pursuing authentication and international promotion of Darjeeling teas.
History
Camellia sinensis was first planted in the Darjeeling area in 1841 by Archibald Campbell who was working for the East India Company in this jungle-covered, sparsely-populated area to develop a hill station for use by the British stationed in Kolkata. At the time, the British were seeking a source of tea outside of China and had both recently discovered a second variety of the plant growing in the wilderness of Assam and smuggled seeds and plantings out of China. The Chinese variety (sinensis) was planted in Saharanpur Botanical Gardens and propagated in other Himalayan gardens where Campbell had acquired seeds from Kumaun via Nathaniel Wallich. While the original plantings succeeded, Campbell moved to Lebong where he and several other residents planted a new batch, in 1846, of both varieties (sinensis and assamica). A year after planting the first three Company experimental tea gardens in 1852, at Tukvar, Steinthal and Alubari, they reported having 2,000 tea plants and Robert Fortune was sent to provide an expert opinion on the "suitableness of the climate and soil of the Hills for the cultivation and manufacture of Tea". While both varieties grew, the sinensis variety was flourishing, as it was found assamica preferred warmer and wetter growing conditions while sinensis had been selectively cultivated for higher elevations. The first commercial tea gardens were established in 1856 and by 1866 there were 39 tea gardens in Darjeeling, including the Makaibari Tea Estate which had established the region's first processing factory for withering and oxidation, necessary for the product to survive the months long journey down to Kolkata and over to Britain. Success of assamica at the nearby Dooars-Terai tea gardens led to infrastructure investments that would be extend up the Darjeeling Himalayan hill region, allowing more machinery and supplies to reach the tea gardens. Darjeeling's population had grown from less than a 100 in the 1830s to 95,000 people with 100 tea gardens in 1885, predominantly Indian Gorkha and Lepcha migrants from Nepal and Sikkim, as the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, the use of steamships and the Suez Canal reduced shipping times.