Tea Types

Darjeeling Tea Types - Unlike most Indian tea, is normally made from the small-leaved Chinese variety of Camellia sinensis var. sinensis, rather than the large-leaved Assam plant (C. sinensis var. assamica).
Traditionally, Darjeeling tea is made as Black tea; however, Darjeeling Oolong and Green teas are becoming more commonly produced and easier to find, and a growing number of estates are also producing white teas.
Below are the short description for each:

Black Tea: The teas which are fermented over 45-60 minutes after processing is known as Black Teas, This types of teas are more pronounced in taste due to fermentation process, the processed leafs are laid on fermentation beds which reacts with the air and oxidizes naturally.

Green Tea : These teas are made by the steaming process and are not fermented at all as a result of which this type of tea contains a lot of anti-oxidants which are good for health.

White Tea : This tea is also made similarly like the Green tea, white teas are also known as the luxurious form of a Green tea, This tea is grown under a shade, so that not even a single ray of light meets the tender shoots and buds grown under the shade as a result of which this tea has the maximum number of anti-oxidants known to man kind, the leafs are further dried by the steaming process.

Oolong Tea : Being the oldest tea manufacturing process of the world, this particular type of teas stands between the Green and the Black tea process, meaning this tea is semi-fermented, in simple words this tea tastes similarly like black teas and has health benefits of green teas.

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Tea Board of India
Darjeeling Tea" means: tea which has been cultivated, grown, produced, manufactured and processed in tea gardens in the hilly areas of Darjeeling Sadar Sub-Division of West Bengal, INDIA.

 

Darjeeling Tea Varieties

1st Flush: The First crop is known as the 1st Flush which is produced from the 1st week of March to the 1st week of May. The appearance of the tea is greenish and has the most mild liquor and floral aroma.

2nd Flush: The second crop is known as the 2nd Flush which is a bit matured than the 1st crop in terms of aroma and liquor, the world renowned muscatel flavor is pronounced during this particular season. This crop is harvested from the end of 3rd week of May to the 3rd week of June.

Autumn Flush: The last and the final crop is the Autumnal Flush which is harvested from the last week of September to the 2nd week of November. This harvest gives the strongest liquor as it passes through the summer and the monsoon and due to the sunshine of Autumn again after the long monsoon season this tea has a very unique aroma.

Darjeeling Tea Grades

When Darjeeling teas are sold, they are graded by size and quality. The grades fall into four basic groups: whole leaf, broken leaf, fannings, and dust.

Whole Leaf
SFTGFOP: Super Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe indicates that it contains many tips and are long and wiry in appearance. The liquors are lighter in color.
FTGFOP: Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe.
TGFOP: Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe

Broken Leaf consists of small tea leaves or pieces of large leaves.
FTGBOP: Fine Tippy Golden Broken Orange Pekoe.
TGBOP: Tippy Golden Broken Orange Pekoe.
FBOP: Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe.
BOP: Broken Orange Pekoe.

Fannings consists of even smaller leaf size than the brokens.
GFOF: Golden Flowery Orange Fannings.
GOF: Golden Orange Fannings.

Dust represents the lowest grade in classification, consists of small pieces of tea leaves and tea dust.
D: Dust

Darjeeling Tea Gardens

Ambootia	Arya	Avongrove	Badamtam	Balasun
Bannockburn	Barnesbeg	Chongtong	Castleton	D'alrus
Gielle	Glenburn	Goomtee	Gopaldhara	Giddapahar
Ging	Hilton	Happy Valley	Jogamaya	Jungpana
Kaley Valley	Kanchan View	Lingia	Longview	Makaibari
Margaret's Hope	Mim	Moondakotee	Mission Hill	Nagri
Namring	Mim	Orange Valley	Phoobsering	Phuguri
Poobong	Potong	Peshoke	Puttabong	Pussimbing
Ringtong	Risheehat	Rohini	Runglee Rungliot	Samabeong
Singla Tea Estate	Seeyok	Selimbong	Singbulli	Singell
Soom	Soureni	Sungma	Snowview	Steinthal
Takdah	Teesta Valley	Thurbo	Tindharia	Tongsong Dtriah
Tumsong	Upper Fagu	Vah Tukvar