Darjeeling teas have been marketed as The Champagne of Teas, as a result of the terroir found within the Darjeeling District of Kalimpong, West Bengal. Darjeeling teas are a ‘Classic English Afternoon Tea’, and an Earl Grey version is really the icing on the cake. One would generally not take this tea with milk or even sugar, but a slice of citrus fruit is a lovely addition, I prefer orange, but lemon or cumquat would be just as lovely. The British first planted smuggled Chinese tea seedlings and seeds, 20,000 of them, and then planted them, along with Indian tea plants in 3 trial plantations. This was in 1841, and was done by the East India Company, because they had ‘fallen out’ with the Chinese as they wouldn’t carry on buying our Opium anymore. The var ‘sinensis’ Chinese seedlings preferred the cooler mountainous area chosen and flourished, whilst the Indian var ‘assamica’ grew better in warmer lower altitudes.
