When my wife and I travel we go out of our way to visit tea growing areas. Our favorites have been Assam in India, Darjeeling in India and Ilam in Nepal. We were able to visit these areas in 2016.
Ilam, as most of you know, is one of the major tea growing areas in the eastern part of Nepal. It is located immediately to the west of the Indian tea growing area of Darjeeling. The differences between Ilam tea and Darjeeling tea are so subtle they elude me.
They call the black tea here 'Orthodox Tea' When tea is called orthodox it refers the way the tea is dried. The leaves are rolled, not shredded.
Because we are late in the season; the tea we saw drying was from the autumn flush. The tea is still delicate; but somewhat more robust, with more of a tangy aroma, then one would expect from a Darjeeling style tea. The tea's liquor is amber. It is has hints of musky flavors.
The tea we ended up purchasing is from a tea grove high in the foothills. The plants here are only about 25 years old. Other plantations we visited had plants over one hundred and fifty years old. We had appropriate contacts, and were buying enough that we able to obtain our tea to bring back home at whole sale prices.
We noticed that the cattle and goats were no where to be found in the tea plantations. Usually they are ubiquitous. This proves they can be controlled if their is a will to control them.
Most of the people in Ilam were ethnic Limbu. Their were also Brahman caste and other Aryan peoples in the area, but they were a minority.
Ilam, as most of you know, is one of the major tea growing areas in the eastern part of Nepal. It is located immediately to the west of the Indian tea growing area of Darjeeling. The differences between Ilam tea and Darjeeling tea are so subtle they elude me.
They call the black tea here 'Orthodox Tea' When tea is called orthodox it refers the way the tea is dried. The leaves are rolled, not shredded.
Because we are late in the season; the tea we saw drying was from the autumn flush. The tea is still delicate; but somewhat more robust, with more of a tangy aroma, then one would expect from a Darjeeling style tea. The tea's liquor is amber. It is has hints of musky flavors.
The tea we ended up purchasing is from a tea grove high in the foothills. The plants here are only about 25 years old. Other plantations we visited had plants over one hundred and fifty years old. We had appropriate contacts, and were buying enough that we able to obtain our tea to bring back home at whole sale prices.
We noticed that the cattle and goats were no where to be found in the tea plantations. Usually they are ubiquitous. This proves they can be controlled if their is a will to control them.
Most of the people in Ilam were ethnic Limbu. Their were also Brahman caste and other Aryan peoples in the area, but they were a minority.
