Picto Diary - 21 January 2016 (AM) - First Flush

Above: Bishop surveys Glenburn Tea Estate, Darjeeling, West Bengal, India. 21 January 2016. Darjeeling... the champagne of teas.

Darjeeling? Opt for first flush pick... but, Autumn pluck is not bad. Avoid Monsoon pluck if you can... too many leaves... too little taste.

Above: "Factory." Glenburn Tea Estate. Darjeeling, West Bengal, India. 21 January 2016.

Tea is dried in blowers to less than 35% moisture content. Manually broken down by workers to leaf bits after drying. Rolled in automated rollers.

Members of the Margaret Taylor Dance Troupe begin a tour of Glenburn's processing operations.

Above: Ranjan. Guide at Glenburn tea processing operation. Glenburn Tea Estate, Darjeeling, West Bengal, India. 21 January 2016.

There is no tea plucking during the winter months. Therefore, we don't see the plucking and processing in operation. Ranjan, here, shows a tea packing sack.

Tea is sent to Glenburn operation in Kolkata in bags as shown for retail packaging. Big paper bags are lined with foil.

Ranjan is 5th generation Nepali tea worker. Likely being groomed for senior management. He was very knowledgeable and effective in his communications.

Above: Glenbun tea packing sack. Reverse side.

Four pluckings.... 1st blush, 2nd blush, Monsoon, and Autumn.

Black tea. 1st blush has best taste, then Autumn. Avoid Monsoon... too many leaves because of the wet and taste diluted.

Darjeeling should not be consumed after 18 months of picking... looses taste.

Green tea comes from the same bush as black tea. Green tea leaves are not dried. They are steamed. They stay green and don't go black/brown. There is more residual moisture in the green tea leaf than in the dried black tea leaf. There is also more caffeine.

All of the 87 Darjeeling tea estates produce 9MM kilograms of tea annually. 50MM kilograms of tea are sold annually under the Darjeeling name. There is little done in the tea business to thwart misuse of the Darjeeling name. The only way to safely get Darjeeling tea... and not a blend, or an outright substitution of an inferior tea, is to order directly from the plantation. Most plantations are now set up for online sales.

Above: Quality/Safety Slogans. "Factory." Glenburn Tea Estate. Darjeeling, West Bengal, India.

Good advice generally!

Pickers, mostly women, make only about $2.00 a day for 8 hours of work. Picking beyond quota - a level which Ranjun says is not hard to achieve - merits extra pay. Ranjan points out that the men are kept busy with other functions... maintenance, building, heavy lifting etc.

In addition, workers are provided housing, basic food staples, free private education for their children, blankets, wood fuel etc.

Most workers are from fourth or fifth generation Nepali families who migrated east from Nepal to work for tea operations started by the Brits and the Scots in the middle of the 19th century.

Ranjan noted that as India's economy grows, more of today's generation doesn't want to stay, working on the estate. They leave for big city jobs. Tea planters will have to look for other sources of labor to produce their four annual crops.

Above: Poinsettia trees. Glenburn Tea Estates. Darjeeling, West Bengal, India. 21 January 2016.

I thought poinsettias were grown in pots and sold at Costco at Christmas time. You live and learn.

Parveez and 'Cake. Glenburn Tea Estate. Darjeeling, West Bengal, India. 21 January 2016.

Parveez is GM of Glenburn. Raised and university educated in Assam after which he went to the tea business there. He was recruited to Darjeeling by owners of Glenburn from a GM job in Assam which produced 10x volume of Glenburn. Why come? "Darjeeling is the champagne of teas," he said. Kind of like running Astin Martin as opposed to Ford?

Addendum:


You really do a great job on filling in a lot of the background. I am most impressed by your dedication and intellectual curiosity. C u in PC hopefully on the slopes.

Comic Mom,
Park City, UT


I dig Maharaja’s (aka 1%) pink socks!

1911 ACP
Salt Lake City, UT



beautiful Steve and speaking of moonbeam the coastal commission here in so cal wants to fire its conservationist lawyer head and replace him with a board of developers that are brown's cronies i have no doubt mr linda ronstadt has a piece of the gazzilion dollars bullet train to nowhere also.

Brand,
Venice, CA



Fascinating trip. I and sorry I missed it. Great sense of adventure!

Bridge,
Palm Springs, FL


Very interesting perspective ! always individuals that think or feel they are above regulations and eventually they believe it - The Clintons are a prime example of those narcissistic individuals - many years ago I was enticed to Arkansas to put together an SBA deal, once I received the real details I got out of town is quickly as I could -

Mr. Z3
Ojai, CA


good one . smog--when i was at usc there were days i could not see across the street.

Brand,
Venice, CA