Glad to report that our air freight shipment of the 2009 Makaibari 2nd flush is almost here. I think you’ll be happy with the selections we’ve made this year. After the disappointing first flush crop which was affected by drought, the 2nd flush saw the benefit of ideal weather conditions – rain at night, sun [...]
Category Archives: Tea Manufacture
Leaf Styles
Tea comes in all kinds of styles and shapes. Black tea is often associated with a grade: OP – orange pekoe (denoting a full leaf tea) FOP – flowery orange pekoe BOP – broken orange pekoe TGFOP – tippy, golden flowery orange pekoe Within the grade, however, appearances can differ widely. Pictured on the right [...]
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Tea Manufacture – Black Tea
What color is fresh tea leaf? And how does black tea become black? We get this question at just about every Tea Tasting session and from our regular customers. The simple answer is that all leaf starts out as green. The first step in black tea manufacture is called Withering. Here we show a picture [...]
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The perils of agriculture
We sometimes forget how dependent we are on the weather. How out of our control it is. This year, the regions of Assam and Darjeeling in northern India experienced a devastating, lingering drought, described by many as the worst in their living memory. It has played havoc with our Spring purchases. In fact, the organic [...]
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The art of tea
The weather is improving in Darjeeling but still, not a drop of rain. You can’t hurry Mother Nature. Some years the season starts early March. Of late, with the climate changing across the globe, the first flush can be as late as the 3rd week of March with a decent amount of leaf only becoming [...]
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