Question: Do you love Indian teas?
Answer: I don’t drink Indian teas.
Question: I bet you do! Which is your favourite tea?
Answer: Assam, I love the rich, full-bodied maltiness.
Question: There you are then! And what about Darjeeling teas?
Answer: Yes, I do like their light, fresh, muscatel character.
Question: And Nilgiri teas?
Answer: I don’t think I know them.
Question: They are medium bodied and fragrant. Would you like to taste an example?
Answer: Yes please. Ooohh, I do recognise this very refreshing tea!
So, you see, we are a country in love with teas from India and have been for a very long time. These teas are predominantly black teas and the focus on quality has been gradually growing over the decades.
Since the early 1600s tea had become desirable in England, ever since the Portuguese princess, Catherine de Braganza married Charles 2nd and brought tea, as part of her dowry, to the English court. In 1684 tea was imported direct to England.
In 1834 the British East India Company, after losing its monopoly of importing tea from China, decided to cultivate tea in India. The first tea grown in Assam arrived in London in 1838. The first tea grown in Darjeeling was in 1859 using seed smuggled from China by John Fortune. In 1835 the first tea was grown in the southern hills of Nilgiri in the Western Ghats.
By 1888 India had surpassed China as the largest exporter of tea to Britain. Today one in four cups of tea consumed worldwide originate from India and it is the world’s third largest exporter of tea. It makes up 17% of UK imports of black tea.
These days, tea producers in India increasingly focus upon traditionally made, orthodox teas as these teas have better, more balanced characters. This compares with the flatter, less balanced and more tannic teas produced by the cut-tear-curl, CTC, method. This was developed for producing tea destined for teabags. The superior taste of orthodox teas command a higher price better suited to the higher labour costs in India compared to many other tea producing nations.
From the most northerly of India’s provinces, Assam is now recognised as producing one of the world’s greatest black teas, especially the second flush pickings. These famously malty teas take milk well. By happy chance, in 1823, native tea bushes were discovered growing wild in Assam and it is this larger leafed, more pungent, assamica variant of Camelia sinensis that is cultivated there today.
Originating in the Himalayan foothills of West Bengal, close to Kangchenjunga, the planet’s third highest peak, Darjeeling is known to produce the ‘Champagne of teas’ and has Protected Geographic Indication (PGI) status. Using the smaller leafed and more fragrant Chinese variant little volume can be produced owing to the limited area on the precipitous mountain sides on which the tea is grown. High altitude is the key to the quality of these fresh, aromatic teas. The first picking of the leaf captivates the aroma developed during the long, cold winter months. They are best drunk without milk.
Nilgiri teas from the Blue Mountains of southern India are grown in conditions around ten degrees C. warmer, compared to the same altitude in Darjeeling. Using the assamica variety these teas are noted for their medium bodied, fruity and fragrant characters.
Hopefully this blog article has reminded you of the great teas India produces and introduced you to Nilgiri teas, if you did not know them previously. So now, when someone asks whether you love Indian teas you can simply reply ‘yes!’
See our black Assam, Darjeeling and Nilgiri teas.