Today is tasting day!  I was recently sent some samples of teas made at Okayti Tea Estate in Darjeeling and at Thiashola Tea Estate in the Nilgiris and I’ve had fun brewing and tasting them.

When I visited Okayti a few years ago, I was impressed by the range of speciality teas that Antriksh Kumbat makes there - as well as the First Flush teas, we tasted Okayti Gold, Okayti White, and I think we may even have tasted an Okayti green.  The envelope I received from Antriksh the other day contained his 2009 First Flush, Golden Oolong, Imperial White and Treasure teas.

Okayti Tea Estate sits just over a wire fence from Nepal, way up high in the Darjeeling Himalayan foothills where the air is soft and humid and the tea plants develop their new leaf shoots slowly.  The bushes here grow at altitudes ranging from 5000 to 7000 feet and the steep, stony road that leads to the factory and bungalow comes in at the top of the garden from where the view is amazing.  As the jeep bumps its way slowly down the track, you are surrounded by lush green slopes of tea that swoop down into the Mirik valley, broken up here and there by dense tracts of jungle growth, waterfalls, tall pine trees and always the mountain peaks in the distance. 

The factory has been here since 1888 and when I was there, after a tour of the manufacturing areas, we spent some time in the tasting room trying some of the wonderful teas.  This afternoon’s tasting session at home has me dreaming of those Darjeeling days at the top of the world.  We stayed in the estate bungalow overnight and as with so many of the Darjeeling estates, Antriksh welcomes visits from tea lovers.  It doesn’t matter how much you read about tea and production methods, it only really makes sense when you go and see for yourself.   You need to stand in the factory and smell the leaf, absorb the atmosphere, listen to the hum of the machines and understand the rhythm of the working day. 

The Okayti Treasure Tea (in the photo on the right) is made from just the downy buds which are each about half an inch in length.  The leaf is yellow-gold rather like a tippy Yunnan and after brewing, the wet buds have an amazing sweet smell reminiscent  of baked apples with brown sugar and the liquor is a rich amber with a sweet smooth taste. 

The dry leaf of the Golden Oolong is also very beautiful - a mixture of golden buds and darker brown leaves and buds - and after brewing the aroma carries hints of peaches and apples.  The liquor is

tawny-amber and the taste is sweet and buttery smooth with lingering hints of toasted hazelnuts.

The Okayti White is made from larger tightly-curled up buds which after brewing have the aroma of sweet, freshly-mown grass.  The liquor is the yellow-gold colour of a sweet dessert white wine and has subtle fruity, slightly grassy notes.

So now to the south of India to Thiashola Tea Plantation in the southern part of the Nilgiri Hills.  Like Okayti, it sits very high up at 6000 to 7000 feet above sea level.  It’s only 35 miles from here to Ootacamund, affectionately called Ooty, the capital of the Nilgiri district and known as the ‘Queen of the Hill Stations’. 

The Nilgiri Hills are stunning with their rolling plains and gentle mountain peaks shrouded in misty cloud.  The landscape is a tapestry of lakes and rivers, waterfalls, evergreen forests and open grasslands, and the area is a popular with tourists who love walking, camping, fishing or visiting the tea plantations.  Much closer to the equator than Darjeeling in the north, Nilgiri is not seasonal and so the tea bushes grow all year round. The weather here changes little through the year but the best teas are produced during the peak season from December to February.

Thiashola, known as ‘Paradise in Blue Hills’, is the oldest plantation in the Nilgiri region and has been producing tea here since 1858 when the British established the garden.  Today it is organic and Fair Trade and belongs to the Indian company SCDCL which also grows organic coffee and it was Nagesh Balasubramanyam, the company’s director, who gave me the teas.  The ones I’ve been tasting today are really good examples of Nilgiri teas - mild and flavoury with fruity notes in the taste and citrus, sometimes quite spicy notes in the aroma. 

The Thiashola Organic Orange Pekoe I’m tasting today (in the photo on the right) is powerful but mellow and drinks well without milk.  The very attractive, neatly twisted leaf is definitely going to find its way into my breakfast pot. 

The Organic Flowery Pekoe (below) also has a very pretty dry leaf - curly and neat with peaty brown and warm russet tones throughout, and after brewing, the wet leaf has powerful hints of lemon.  The liquor is flavoury and, like the OP, has a subtle fine flavour.   Thiashola also makes CTC teas and, unusually for Nilgiri tea producers, an organic green tea which I have still to taste.

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