Why is First Flush Darjeeling considered the champagne of teas?
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Why is Showtime Flush Darjeeling considered the champagne of teas?
The prized tea grown in the foothills of the Himalayas is geographically protected and farmed organically, which means production is express and subject to the vagaries of nature.
Outset Flush Darjeeling refers to the processed leaves of the very first harvests effectually late February to late April each yr. (Photograph: TWG Tea)
23 Jul 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 05 Jul 2022 01:30AM)
A cup of smooth Darjeeling tea, grown in the foothills of the Himalayas, is one of the pinnacles of the tea-drinking experience for tea connoisseurs. Fifty-fifty amend, make that a First Flush Darjeeling, which refers to the processed leaves of the very commencement harvests around tardily February to late April each year, prized for being the most fragile of the annual yield.
Darjeeling tea's production remains amidst the well-nigh labour-intensive processes in the globe. Well-nigh of it is washed by hand, beginning with experienced workers who comb the plantations, picking but shoots bearing two leaves and a bud. According to TWG Tea, which recently released its 2022 Start Flush Harvests, it takes approximately 20,000 to 22,000 shoots to produce a kilogram of Darjeeling tea. That's a lot of shoots to hand-pick to supply the entire world.
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HIGH ON THE HILLS
Darjeeling tea took root much like many commercial endeavours of colonial times: With thievery. In 1848, the British Due east Bharat Visitor tasked botanist Robert Fortune with smuggling alive tea bushes out of China and replanting them in the Himalayan foothills to establish a new tea industry nether British command. It took fits, starts and virtually a decade, but by the tardily 19th century, Darjeeling plantations were growing some of the globe's finest teas thanks to the region's cool high-altitude climes and unique terroir.
Each bound, the intense sunlight against the cold Himalayan air serves every bit kindling for the tea bushes to bloom into life with their beginning spring harvests. Once picked, the tea shoots undergo delicate processing, from the rolling of leaves to release their natural juices, to drying and sorting into various grades.
Another matter that keeps Darjeeling in rarefied territory is its mountainous terrain that limits tea production. Darjeeling'southward output accounts for simply one per cent of the 900,000 tonnes that India produces annually. Most Darjeeling plantations – including the world-renowned Okayti plantation, which produces TWG Tea's prized Darjeeling teas – do organic farming, which essentially means that the plants are grown with a skilful dose of faith in nature's arbitrary vagaries.
Elements of climate change like unpredictable rainfall in areas prone to mudslides can be addressed past growing native plants and wild grasses betwixt tea bushes to prevent elevation soil from washing away. Only there are some things that humans and processes only cannot control or expect, like a global pandemic.
"As Bharat went into lockdown due to COVID-xix, plantation activity ground to a halt and plucking ceased at the near pivotal fourth dimension of the twelvemonth," explained Maranda Barnes, co-founder and director of communications and business evolution of TWG Tea.
"On any given yr, TWG Tea ensures that only the highest quality harvests are selected for us and this unprecedented outcome has resulted in a limited quantity of Darjeeling Outset Flush teas this year, equanimous solely of teas candy pre-lockdown," she added.
WHAT'South IN A NAME
There'south good reason why Darjeeling teas are often referred to as "the champagne of teas". Their distinctive scent is delicate, refined and fruity, with unmistakable notes of muscatel and peaches, quite dissimilar the more vigorously flavoured of teas of India's lowlands.
For a long time, much of the tea sold as Darjeeling was not really grown in its motherland, but was rather a blend of Darjeeling and lesser teas. In the early 2000s, Darjeeling's growers banded together to seek legal protection for the geographical indication of Darjeeling tea in the Us and French courts, which they somewhen clinched.
In 2012, the European Union agreed to phase out the employ of "Darjeeling" on blended teas. Since and so, simply as only cognac can just exist and then named if information technology comes from Cognac in France, then too a Darjeeling tea can just exist made from tea grown in Darjeeling.
SIP AND SAVOUR
Like fine wines, savouring the nuances of Darjeeling tea comes with its own implements and rituals. TWG Tea created ceramic pots with short spouts resembling a bird'south neb for Darjeeling's specific purpose. These pots feature fitted lids that allow the infused wet leaves to be displayed and their perfume enjoyed at the terminate of the tasting.
TWG Tea's president, CEO and co-founder Taha Bouqdib recommends that the teas be infused for three- to four minutes, depending on the option, in water warmed to betwixt 90 and 95 degrees Celsius before they are sipped. "When tasting Darjeeling," he brash, "look at the liquor for the depth of color and clarity, then taste for briskness, quality, forcefulness and aroma."
This is how i can fully feel the flavours of Darjeeling's periodic harvests or flushes – from the prized, ethereal nuances of the First Flush teas to the more robust complexities of those that follow. Delve deeper into the detached intricacies of Darjeeling'due south offerings and you will come to sympathise why tea appreciation is increasingly au courant.
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