Darjeeling Tea

Tea, across the world and particularly in South Asia, is a big deal.  I drink tea regularly and have to admit, prior to today, had no idea how the got from where ever it came from to the little, cute bag or the loose leaf packets.  I have to admit my own ignorance here, that I didn't really even know tea came from a bush.  Well, today, I was enlightened!

This week I am visiting some friends up north and we traveled today to Darjeeling.  A bit before the hill-station of Darjeeling (also learned today what a hill-station was), we came to a famous tea estate.  It offered tours, so always ready for a guided-tour, I wanted to go.

What I learned was so interesting.

First the tea is grown from the small bushes you see here.

 This is the Makaibari Tea Estate--the place giving the tour that produces quite a bit of tea every year.

 This craacked me up!  They covered the tractor with a wind shield that said the name of their estate!

 We had to get all dressed up to go on the tour.  It looks like we're going in to perform surgery, but I promise all we did was just walk around!

 After the tea is harvested, it is laid out here to begin drying.

 Then it is swirled.

 Then shaken and sifted.

 And laid out to dry some more.

 Then it is put in a 250 degree oven and dried the rest of the way.

It is sifted once more.

 And out comes tea that is ready to be used.

 But before you put it in your tea, it is hand-sorted by these ladies into the different qualities of tea.

After that it is packaged...

 And some of it is shipped all across South Asia and the West.

After all that process, it is ready to be brewed--in South Asia, loose leaf is the way to go.

And finally, it is ready to be drunk!

Yum!  Real Darjeeling tea in Darjeeling!