BEHIND THE CRAFT
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Walking the Tightrope in Darjeeling

William Daniell was only 16 when he first set sail with his uncle to Calcutta in 1785. A grand adventure for a young man.

Before long, he was a painter of Indian colonial scenes working in watercolour, oils and etchings.

His quality was beautifully described thus: "one may almost feel the warmth of an Indian sky, the water seems to be in actual motion and the animals, trees and plants are studies for the naturalist".

In this dramatic painting, Daniell presents a hair-raising scene of dozens of laiden men crossing a wild-looking Alkananda River near Srinigar in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, via just a rope bridge.

Beyond the mountains in the background, the start of the great Himalayas, and the home of our Drajeeling tea.

FGTE20112

The Campbell Darjeeling Black Tea x 20 Tea Bag Sachets

Net Weight: 50g

£6.00
The East India Company acquired territory in the Darjeeling district after the Nepal War. In 1839, Dr. Campbell was appointed Superintendent of the area by the Company, and experimented with planting tea in the grounds of his official residence. The success of the plants led to the establishment of numerous...

The East India Company - Lifestyle

Tea

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£6.00
SPECIFICATION DELIVERY & RETURNS
Product Detail Experience How to Ingredients & Allergens
Darjeeling’s teas, revered from East to West, were once called the 'Champagne of Tea'.

Today, 87 tea gardens are to be found on the hillsides of Darjeeling in the Eastern Himalayas, all in altitudes above 600m.

“The unique flavours of Darjeeling come from Chinese tea genetics mixing with the Indian terroir and climate. The tea plant flourishes in the well-drained steep slopes and a mix of cool dry and warm moist air through the year, combined then with the intricacies of harvesting and processing,” says Lalith Lenadora, The East India Company's Tea Master.
“It's lighter and less astringent than most black teas, but more layered and complex than teas from other parts of India".

Our Campbell Darjeeling is a second flush, picked between May and June at precisely the optimal moment, overseen by Lenadora and has been specifically chosen for its complexity, lack of astringency and of course the famously distinctive muscatel-flavour in cup.
Brews to a delightful amber colour, with an initial lightness and slightly fruity sweetness to the liquor, followed by a well-balanced dryness of the palate. Hence the description most associated with Darjeeling second flush teas - Muscatel.

This of course refers to the Muscat grape, one of the oldest grape varieties. Good examples of Darjeeling second flush teas share this grape-like character: floral sweetness followed by the emergence of drying tannins, making for a complex brew that changes through the cup.
Tea is analogous with wine in having so many different types and flavours - astringency, sweetness, fruit notes, smokiness to name but a few. Just like wine therefore, the pairing of different teas with different foods is a mixture of art and science.

Darjeeling second flush is unusual in having light fruity notes followed by drying tannins.

We enjoy it therefore with sweet deserts or pastries - the tannins helping to accentuate the sweetness all the way through the desert.
Quantity

1 SACHET PER CUP

Temperature

200ML OF WATER AT 85ºC

Brewing Time

2-3 MINS BREWING TIME

Ingredients

Single Estate Black Tea.

Storage

Store in a cool, dry place avoiding direct sunlight and strong odours.

Stories

Darjeeling Tea - How it started

The British needed tea from an alternative source to China. They achieved this, to Darjeeling's benefit too, thanks to 2 officers of The East India Company.

Robert Fortune was a Scottish botanist. He knew China well and had survived hair-raising adventures. He was a Mandarin speaker and blended in with his choice of Chinese attire and appearance and he would carry out The East India Company’s strategy to bring tea cultivation and knowledge to India from China.
Incognito, Fortune extraordinarily managed to smuggle out of China more than 20,000 seedlings and plants.

These Chinese tea plants, Camellia Sinensis, together with a wild variety from in Assam, were planted in Darjeeling in 1841 by Dr Archibald Campbell, who was establishing a hill station for the British stationed in Kolkata. One year later, 2000 plants were growing in 3 experimental gardens. Back came Fortune to review progress and it was found to be the Chinese variant, from similar higher altitudes than the warm, humidity-loving Assamica variety, that was flourishing.

The first commercial tea gardens opened in 1856 and the rest is history.

Our spirit delivers no ordinary products

  • FAQ

    What does ‘Flush’ mean when used to describe Darjeeling teas?
    Flush simply means harvest. There are 3 main flushes or harvests in Darjeeling each year. The first Flush takes place in early Spring, this is the earliest crop and a distinctive and rather feisty prized tea around the world - The Beaujolais Nouveau of tea. The second Flush happens in early summer, the tea producing a more rounded, mature flavour, whilst the last Autumnal flush of October and early November delivers a bolder, fuller flavour and a copper liquor.

    Where is Darjeeling?
    The small Indian city of Darjeeling lies within West Bengal, at an altitude of 7000 ft in the Eastern Himalayas. It is the administrative centre of the Darjeeling region, where today, 87 tea gardens can found, producing some of the finest teas in the world.

  • Delivery & Returns

    UK Standard Delivery: £3.95
    UK Next Day Delivery (mainland UK only): £9.95 (Order before 12pm)
    International Delivery is available, please see our delivery page for details. For more information and Terms & Conditions, please see our Delivery page.

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