Dar(jee)ling no more: Why India’s most expensive tea has fallen on hard times

KOLKATA – It accounts for less than half a per cent of India’s total tea production. But this limited crop of Darjeeling tea, grown in the picturesque Eastern Himalayas in the state of West Bengal, has devoted lovers across the world who prize its fruity, distinctive muscatel flavour.

American author Jeff Koehler describes the tea in his book, Darjeeling, as “the indisputable jewel on India’s tea-producing crown, its most iconic brew, and the flag-bearer of Indian teas abroad”.