Have alarming drops in the sales of single malts forced the Scots to switch to single estate teas? Methinks it’s best for the Scots to focus on their magical spirit and leave us Himalayan planters to till our Single Estate Teas. Nowhere in the Scotland that I traversed have I seen the sheer range of perfect tea-growing climes as exists in the Himalayas and that too within such short distances from one another. This is the speciality of Darjeeling’s terrain and what makes her teas a magical Himalayan herb.
Let me illustrate my point. The foothills near Bagdogra airport or Siliguri railhead is tropical. An hour’s drive uphill to Makaibari at Kurseong is temperate. And so is Darjeeling, situated at a height of 6,000 feet. A further hour’s drive uphill are Sandhakhphu and Phalut, situated at 12,000 feet and arctic and alpine by nature. So effectively, a three hour’s drive transports one via three major climatic zones of the world. The diversity of flora and fauna is unparalleled. This makes Darjeeling a magical, mystical place.
The master tea-maker knows that these qualities, being magical and mystical, are a prerequisite for tea-making. He, or she, ensures that every roll is imparted an aroma with its own distinct personality. The slow and natural process of decay is accelerated by heat, light and humidity, which is found in abundance in our land. The monsoon sets in with right earnest in June. And when humidity is hundred per cent, it is an ideal time to manufacture the green teas. The green teas are unfermented teas as opposed to black fermented teas.
Grown in such conditions, tea thus is surplus in our land and we can and do share it with the rest of the world. Hence it’s a libation for all to savour, found nowhere else in the world. I hope to enjoy my single malts in this incarnation of mine and I do hope that the single malt breweries will scale new peaks to create even better ones in the future, for which I will happily arrive at a barter.
So stick to your single malts, gentlemen. Cheers.
(Rajah Banerjee owns Darjeeling’s largest tea estate, the world-famous Makaibari)
