Darjeeling has been nicknamed the “Champagne” of teas, both because the Indian Darjeeling tea crops may vary from year to year (like grapes in the Champagne region of France), and because in order to be called a Darjeeling tea, it must be grown, harvested, manufactured, and processed in the tea gardens of the Darjeeling region.
In their quest to grow tea in India, the British discovered that the native Chinese tea bush, Camellia sinensis sinensis, flourished in the Darjeeling region. In what remains one of the highest-altitude tea-growing regions in the world, in the cool air and hardscrabble soil of the Himalayan foothills, the tea leaves grow slowly, taking on lovely variegated flavors.
Darjeeling black tea is famous for three seasons of harvest: the spring’s first flush, the early summer’s second flush, and the late summer and fall’s autumnal teas. Though they grow more subdued the farther they get from spring, all three seasonal Darjeeling tea black varieties have a charming rounded quality—a depth and a gentleness to rival Chinese black teas.
You can experience the difference by choosing from our large selection of non-organic Indian Darjeeling tea.
Prefer to buy organic? We also offer a wide range of organic Darjeeling black tea online for those who appreciate clean, garden-fresh character in every sip.