Visit to a Tea Estate in Kangra

I have visited tea gardens in the Palampur area in Kangra earlier also but this time I was able to see the process of making tea as well. Kangra is the tea capital of North India.

A Tea Garden in Palampur, Kangra, Himachal

I was staying at the Himachal Heritage Village which is on one side of the town whereas the tea garden that I visited was on another side of the town and we passed through pristine pine forests to reach the gardens and factory of the Himalayan Brew.

Green tea leaves being processed

This is a 150 year old tea estate that has its own tea plantations, processing and blending unit where the tea is produced under strict quality controls. They mainly produce the green tea with various flavours.

A woman sorting tea leaves at the tea factory

After reaching the tea estate we were welcomed by Mr Rajiv Sud, the owner of the estate and Himalayan Brew. In fact Mr Sud is a Singaporean national but came back to take care of his family’s tea business. He showed us around the processing factory and explained how the blending and processing is done right from green leaves to the steaming, pressing, retention of the flavour etc to the final product. Most of the staff at the factory was female and he explained that the work done by them was better than the males.

Various stages of process of tea making at the Himalayan Brew factory

Later on he took us around his estate including the meadows where he sometimes camp. From the meadows the view of the surrounding area was majestic. After this we went to one part of the tea garden where some women were plucking the leaves.

Women plucking tea leaves at a tea estate in Palampur, Kangra

The background of snow capped Dhauladhar Mountains did produce a magical effect and I wished that I could own a small house in that surrounding. Some of the plucking is done by hand though he has some Japanese machines also which does the plucking and pruning.

Mr Rajiv Sud, Ownder Himalayan Brew at his tea estate

Mr Sud prefers the hand plucking systems as it generates employment in the region. One thing I did notice was the fact that the persons employed at the factory were the locals whereas the ones doing the plucking work were mainly migrants. The migrants though were provided housing facility on the estate itself. There is of course division of labour with plucking at the lower end, in terms of wages, and the factory workers at the upper end.

The Himalayan Brew products

After this we went and saw the packing process and also bought some of the tea flavours like the Kangra Masala tea, Malouthi tea, Pinewood smoked Tea. I am even now enjoying a cup of the Kangra tea that I had bought from my visit.

Also read:

In the Lap of Nature – Himachal Heritage Village Palampur
When I flew Like a Bird
McLeodganj, Dharamshala, Himachal
Why I love to go to McLeodganj
Skywatch Friday - Sunset at McLeodganj, Himachal
Places to visit in McLeodganj: Bhagsunag Waterfall
Places to visit in McLeodganj: The Church of St John-in-the-Wilderness

Tea in China

Today I was drinking the fruit tea that I had brought from China so decided to write about my experiences of visiting a place that explains the art of drinking tea and the various kinds of teas that are drank in China and the particular benefits of each.

Tea Hostess

I went for tea tasting at Dr. Tea in Beijing. Dr Tea is located on the Min Zu Yuan Road in the Chao Yang district of Beijing. There are tea hostess to explain the whole process and for foreigners there are English speaking hostesses. The hostess started with explaining the different kinds of teas that is drank in China. They have a lot of varieties of teas compared to India. Also most Indians drink their tea with milk (and sugar) and comparatively speaking the Indian tea is much stronger (boiled longer) than the Chinese tea. Several cups of tea is made from the same tea leaves in China as they normally take mild tea.

Explaining the various kinds of tea 

Firstly the hostess explained the various kind of tea leaves along with preparing and giving us to taste the tea and also explaining the various health benefits of each. The types of teas that I tasted were the White Tea supposedly  good for cold, coughs and sore throat; Golden Green Tea also known as the slimming tea or the Wild puer tea supposedly good for regulating blood pressure, lowering of cholesterol and to lose weight.

Fruit Tea in the Jar

Then I was given to taste the Oriental Beauty or the King of Oolong Tea supposedly good for blood circulation and skin. The Jasmine tea was equally good in taste and supposedly good to fight the summer heat and to improve the eyesight. Litchi tea is good for digestion.The Ginseng as well as Tain Qi Flower tea are known to restore your energy and protect your liver and kidney..

There are different ways to hold a tea cup in China depending on the kind of tea you are drinking and also depending on whether you are a male or female!

Tea is considered as a Chinese national drink. The Chinese gulps down N number of tea cups in a day as their teas are very light, The reason for people drinking huge amounts of tea in China is, I think, mainly because China is a very cold and dry country and therefore one needs lots of intake of fluids.

The place has several varieties of teas as well as tea crockery for sale and the hostess at the end was able to sell some tea to me as well despite the fact that by Indian standards the tea was costly!

The best tea I liked was the fruit tea which has several kinds of dried fruits and flowers and after making 2-3 cups from the same lot one can actually eat the fruits and flowers giving the original flavor. It is a real mood relaxer!