Elegance is Darjeeling

History and secrets of tea champagne

Darjeeling tea is an extraordinary product, the flagship product that has made famous the Indian region of the same name where it grows and is processed. We are in the state of West Bengal, specifically in the northernmost area: the story goes that the name Darjeeling, from the Tibetan “dorje (lightning) ling (place),” was given anciently by its inhabitants in honor of the Hindu deity Indra, whose scepter is represented precisely by a thunderbolt.

It is a lush green land, furrowed by rivers and rich in deep valleys and lofty peaks, nestled in the foothills of the Himalayan mountain range: its gardens lie at different altitudes, from the gentlest slopes at about 600 meters to the most inaccessible peaks at over 2,000 meters. An incredibleterroir from which comes a tea loved the world over and with unmistakable fragrances that have earned it the name“champagne of teas.”

A bit of history

Repeatedly disputed over the centuries, the region came under British rule in 1835: given its salubrious mountain air, the British initially exploited the area to build a sanitarium and summer residences, so as to provide shelter for officers and their families given the unbearable heat that plagued the plains. The turning point, however, was the discovery of how valuable Darjeeling was for tea cultivation: its altitude and cool, misty climate made it a perfect terroir for the camellia sinensis sinensis variety, until then a Chinese preserve.

The local axamic variety, discovered in 1825, had already given rise to tea cultivation in India for commercial purposes: however, the small-leaf variety grown in China was much loved by European consumers because of the refinement, florality and delicacy of its fragrances. Thanks to the famous Scottish botanist-spy Robert Fortune, hired in 1842 by the East India Company to steal tea and knowledge from the Chinese people, the first seeds and seedlings of the sinensis sinensis variety thus arrived in Darjeeling and the first estates (gardens) in the region were established.

From the few gardens, it grew to more than a hundred in 1947, producing as much as 14 million kilos of black tea annually. To date, production exceeds 18 million kilos of tea annually, with 88 officially recognized gardens. Given the many counterfeits, moreover, in 2005 the Tea Board of India obtained an important certification for Darjeeling, which has become a WTO-recognized geographical indicator: it has been established that only tea grown in Darjeeling can actually be called such.

Fragrances and flavors of Darjeeling teas

Of teas grown and processed in this region, there are many: estates, as we said, number almost a hundred! However, the final product varies not only by garden, with the obvious differences in terroir and processing, but also by time of year. Yes, because the flavors and aromas of Darjeelings are different depending on the time when the tea leaves were picked.

We can distinguish 4 main flushes where “flush” means the new casting of buds and tender leaves after a period of plant rest-the same term consequently also indicates harvesting:

It must be said that Darjeeling tea par excellence is usually considered a black tea, the category of fully oxidized teas. For first flush in particular, however, some clarifications must be made. In this case, the withering process that takes place after the harvest is very intense and leads to a strong reduction in the percentage of water contained in the leaf: we are around 60-65% as opposed to 30-35% in classic black teas. Since oxidation is hindered by the scarcity of water, Darjeeling leaves never oxidize 100%, so much so that a mélange of greens and various shades of brown can be seen in the dry. It would therefore be more correct to classify Darjeeling first flush, rather than as a black tea, as a “hard-withered” tea.

In recent years, new products have then been added to the orthodox black teas: thus we also have white, oolong and green teas in which more trained palates will be able to recognize theunmistakable muscatel, or nutmeg grape,note typical of Darjeeling teas.

SFTGFOP…? Untangling the letters

How to navigate the sea of little letters that accompany the name of our Darjeeling? Indeed, you may have happened to read on the package acronyms such as TGFOP or SFTGFOP1. This type of nomenclature was devised by the British and actually applies to other teas produced in former colonies of the British Empire-so not only Indian teas such as Assam, Darjeeling and Nilgiri, but also Ceylon and African teas (you will never see these little letters accompany the name of a Chinese or Japanese tea). But what do all these acronyms mean? Let’s try to understand more about them.

This is a classification (grading) intended to determine the quality of the dried leaves and therefore does not refer to the organoleptic characteristics of the liquor. Considering mainly the two macro-categories whole leaf, i.e., whole leaf, and broken, i.e., broken leaf, with these acronyms we identify which leaves have been harvested and measure the amount of buds that tea will have in proportion to the leaves. Below you can juggle the classification of whole leaf teas.

Trivia: where do the terms that make up the word Orange Pekoe come from? “Pekoe” stands for both the silvery down that covers and protects the buds, from the Cantonese pai-hao, and-as far as classification is concerned-any mid-level black tea. The origin of the term Orange, on the other hand, is debated: mainly it is traced to the Orange-Nassau noble house, a prominent Dutch family that had its heyday with the rise of the Dutch East India Company and the tea trade in Europe. Others trace it instead to the orange color of the liquor when the leaves are infused, dyeing the water an amber color.

However, do not be intimidated by official classifications. As a general principle: the more letters you see, the higher the grade of those leaves. And for the rest, let your instincts and curiosity guide you in tasting and trying new teas …with or without letters!

Would you like to savor the refinement and be enveloped in the scents of a Darjeeling first flush? Try our teas! We have selected the finest leaves from the best gardens in the Kurseong Valley:
– the refined Avongrove First Flush SFTGFOP1, with a delicate taste with a fresh persistence reminiscent of tangerine peel
– the intense Okayti First Flush FTGFOP1, fragrant and pungent, with citrus notes of lemon and lemongrass and floral hints of wild rose
– the soft Giddapahar Delight Early FTGFOP1, with hints of cedar and vanilla and an extremely velvety body.

Darjeeling teas, with their wonderful complexity, are almost meditation teas-they deserve careful tasting and will be able to reward you with a very special taste experience.