Darjeeling tea, which often refers to black tea produced within the Darjeeling district of northeast India, is likely one of the most well-known and highly-regarded varieties of tea on this planet. Nevertheless, the Darjeeling district itself is sort of tiny, and there’s a a lot bigger band of areas on the foothills of the Himalayan mountain vary with an identical local weather. Many of those areas additionally produce tea, and the tea is in lots of respects just like Darjeeling black tea.
This text explores a number of the black teas produced in different Himalayan areas outdoors of the Darjeeling district. These areas embrace different districts and states of India, corresponding to Sikkim and Jalpaiguri, in addition to close by areas in different nations, together with Nepal and Bangladesh.
Different areas of India:
After Darjeeling, the next-best recognized tea rising area of India is Assam. Though Assam is geographically very near Darjeeling, it’s positioned at a decrease altitude and has a markedly hotter local weather with larger humidity however decrease rainfall. These circumstances, paired with the truth that the tea grown in Assam is produced from a distinct, large-leaf cultivar of the tea plant, ends in tea with a vastly completely different character from Darjeeling tea.
The opposite high-altitude areas close by, nonetheless, produce teas similar to Darjeeling. Sikkim is the best-known of those areas, though it’s in all probability nonetheless fairly esoteric to anybody aside from tea lovers. Jalpaiguri, the district immediately east of Darjeeling, is maybe much more esoteric.
Neighboring areas of different nations:
The teas most just like Darjeeling tea which are grown out of India are these grown in Nepal. Darjeeling really shares a considerable border with Nepal, and the areas during which tea is grown in Nepal not solely have basically the identical local weather as in Darjeeling, however the traditions and tradition of tea cultivation there are additionally very carefully associated. Though they’re just like Darjeeling teas, and are categorized by the identical system of flushes (first flush, second flush, autumnal flush, and so forth.) Nepalese black teas positively have their very own distinctive character to them and might be recognized as such to the skilled palate.
Bangladesh can also be comparatively close to the Darjeeling district, and there are areas. Teas from Bangladesh, nonetheless, are usually not as broadly accessible on the Western market, and plenty of of them are additionally barely much less shut in character and high quality to these produced in Darjeeling. Nonetheless, this nation does warrant point out.
In abstract:
Black teas produced in Darjeeling, India are among the many most well-known of high-quality, loose-leaf black teas. Nevertheless, there are different close by areas, together with Sikkim and Jalpaiguri in India, and out of doors of India, neighboring areas in Nepal, which produce related teas. These teas have Darjeeling-like qualities, but additionally have their very own distinctive traits and supply an fascinating change of tempo for curious lovers of loose-leaf black tea.
