Second Flush 2017 Plans

We have heard the ominous words from Darjeeling – there is going to be no second flush (summer harvest) this year. We were hoping hard that somehow the political troubles that have engulfed Darjeeling since early June would ease off and second flush production would resume. But last week we heard from our partner tea gardens in Darjeeling and they gave us the dreaded news.

For those of you who are not aware of the troubles in Darjeeling, you can read our last blog post.

Given the unfortunate situation in Darjeeling, we have decided to enhance our focus on Nepal teas. With similar topography and climate, high mountain tea farms of eastern Nepal produce teas that are Darjeeling-like, sometimes even surpassing their famous counterpart. Many of you are already familiar with the teas from Jun Chiyabari, an organic tea estate, located in Dhankuta district of Nepal.

We have already selected our first batch of second flush 2017 teas from Jun Chiyabari. During the sampling we found many gems, including one shade-grown green tea in Japanese style (Kabusecha). There were couple of black teas which Jun refers to as Himalayan Royal Ruby (HRR). The quality of these teas is certainly befitting an Emperor! We raced to book these teas before others, and we are glad to announce that we managed to secure them.

However, because of the intensity of the work required to make these teas the production volume is highly limited. The “Kabusecha” is 700 grams (1.5 lb approx) and the HRR is about 6 lb only. Talk about micro-batches.

Besides these super-special teas, we will have our regular and favorite Himalayan Imperial Black. We are hoping to have these teas available within a week or two. Stay tuned!

We also continue to scan across the tea growing world for new interesting teas. After our recently improved Happy Breakfast Blend from Assam, we have included another Assam, this time from the organic Belseri tea estate. The hot and wet region of Assam that has one of the rich biodiversity in the world produces some of the best black teas, if you are looking for a “hearty” one.

Also we have been getting a good feedback of our teas from Colombia that we introduced earlier this year. We have already gone through our first shipment from tea from the Andes and now the second batch is expected to arrive next week.

In the meantime, let us pray and hope that the people in Darjeeling get a respite from the political turmoil.