The Eastern Indian Himalayas is a range that dominates the Northern part of West Bengal. Located in this part of the world is the Indian queen of the hills, Darjeeling. It is famous for numerous things and one of them include Darjeeling tea.
As the SUV or your van that you travel in makes it’s way up the windy roads, the Himalayan vistas open up. The green slopes welcome you to the heart of the Himalayas. Eventually, the slopes give way to the tea gardens of the area, where workers keep plucking the tea leaves. Evidently, Darjeeling is home to the world’s best tea.
About a whopping 87 estates operate in the area with a large scale tea production. With Darjeeling spreading it’s wings over to Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet, there’s plenty of scope for the tea estates to expand and grow. Although, the area is getting used up, there is still some room for development.
Folks come to this area from all around the world and the visitors range from London to Manhattan. Makaibari is probably the most popular among the rest of the tea estates. Travelers in this part of the Himalayas are mostly tea tasters, and tea dealers besides people who are just visiting for a vacation.
As far as I know, tea tasting is not as easy as wine tasting is. You have to know how and where the plants are grown and in what condition. That way you get a better perspective on this specialty.
A few days spent in the tea wilderness will help you get first hand knowledge on the tea plantations and their aspects. So if you are planning a vacation to Asia, I suggest that you better check out the tea estates of Makaibari, Glenburn, and Goomtee. It will be much like a Napa valley wine touring.
Comments
But the question is that whether the much-flaunted claim of being ’organic tea’ is genuine. The Tea Research centre in the foothills say that it is not possible to have organic farming in isolation. Unless all the tea estates switch over to organic farming, the pest, insects and weeds from the estates, using insecticides, pesticides etc. will invade the neighbouring tea estate, shunning the use of chemicals.
Nice view there :). Like in Indonesia