We met with Rishi, the plantation manager of Gopaldhara and Rohini, two of the main Darjeeling plantations. Or surely many others of them are significant, or all just slightly different. He explained that Gopaldhara is one of the older plantations, and that Rohini one of the newer ones, with Gopaldhara working with issues with many plants being older there, and Rohini producing from younger plants, at lower elevation. So the challenges would be different, and potential outcome related to what approaches would work out well at both.
Josh Linvers joined us this time too, the tea sommelier from Canada who we've met with twice. He went through a Darjeeling exploration phase this year, focused as much on Gopaldhara as any other source, so it made sense to include him. He had even been in contact with Rishi, in discussing what he had reviewed.
Per usual this won't cover everything we talked about; these summaries don't work out like that. And some degree of bias or selection has to be applied in that filtering. This represents an indicative summary, but also one adjusted for what I see as main themes, or most interesting for readers, avoiding personal discussion scope, which didn't come up much this time.
Changing Darjeeling tea processing and aspects outcome
To me this is not only one of the main things we discussed but also one of the main themes Gopaldhara has been working on for years. They've been moving towards making more whole-leaf versions of teas, versus Darjeeling tending to be quite broken or chopped in many product forms in the past. Rishi explained why that is, and to some extent even covered more about the different forms (to a tiresome extent, really, delving deep into how the grade codes work, which are complicated, but I'll not even touch on that here). He clarified they make as much of whole leaf versions as they can, with some proportion always broken leaf of different sizes, and with that outcome varying by harvest season, material type input, and other factors.
The basics, as he described it, relate to Darjeeling tea production stemming back to how the British made tea 150 years ago. That was based mostly on automated production of Assamica variety teas (although it would require a tea historian to place how the equipment varied over that time), with more focus on low elevation growth. Darjeeling is based mainly on variety Sinensis plant types now, as it has been for some time, just newer form selected genetics cultivars of those.
Per his surely oversimplified summary, condensed for an audience not comprised of tea production professionals, this earlier production, which extends to the present day, had involved use of a different kind of rolling table than is typically used in Chinese production. Rolling is the step of bruising the leaves, enabling air contact with enzymes that cause oxidation. Use of the prior form of equipment results in production of a much higher proportion of broken leaf material.
So beyond the rounded off description his goal has been to make whole-leaf Darjeeling teas. Of course this would also relate to the picking methods used, and sorting concerns, and so on; it's not all about one piece of equipment and one processing step.
It's not as if all Darjeeling isn't sorted by leaf size. Automated processes support separating and selling whatever is produced as finer particles, broken leaf, and more whole leaf. The difference lies in setting up processing, and changing equipment use, to lead to production of a much more whole-leaf main outcome form.
This isn't unfamiliar in higher quality Chinese tea production; it's standard from there. I drink broken leaf tea from time to time, but on the average day I'm drinking very whole leaf sheng pu'er, at different times replaced by very whole leaf versions of oolong or Chinese black teas, and so on. Or sometimes Darjeeling, or other teas from lots of places. I'm drinking a black tea from Russia while I write this initial draft (whole leaf processed, but a gaba version, a completely different story).
This doesn't result in a claim that Gopaldhara is leading the way to completely changing Darjeeling tea, or that they already stand far above almost all other producers at this time. It does seem likely that Rishi is a real visionary, leading the way in a likely future direction, which was probably already clear enough to some others, who have been taking similar steps. Other parts of the story fill in why it's just not that simple.
Making these changes adds cost, from the harvest step on through equipment expenses and processing time. The demand has to be there, or else they aren't producing this tea for an established market to consume. Distribution channels also need to be open to the change. They've been selling other forms of Darjeeling for a long time (mostly that, at least), and need to accept a shift in cost, and other changes. It's just far easier to source and sell the same products than to make any changes, which also involves some degree of risk. It would filter down to packaging issues too; more whole leaf products won't be as dense, changing that requirement.
Before going further with that range of effects, and how it has worked out in practice, we might consider why Rishi sees this as a natural next step, and why it's so necessary. He explained that it's his passion to make better versions of tea. Seems a bit idealistic, maybe almost too simple, but I fully accept that a main part of pushing this change is a personal love of tea. It's the part that presumably all tea enthusiasts share, just in different forms. Per my preference their teas are the best Darjeeling I've ever tried. But then I'm not a Darjeeling specialist, and focus more on Chinese teas, which has probably driven me to be biased towards this tea form and related character (experienced brewed tea aspects that tend to correspond with that form).
While I'm on an aside I want to cover one more tangent, prior to getting back to how broad awareness and demand issues are playing out. Brewing some teas Western style works better than a Gongfu approach, and for some Gongfu brewing is much better. It applies by tea type as one factor, with others also relevant. Sheng pu'er gives better results brewed Gongfu style (using a much higher proportion and many short infusions, versus using a teaspoon per cup brewed for 4 to 5 minutes, maybe only for two infusions). Broken leaf material, for green and black tea, typically works out better brewed Western style. As I see it shu pu'er is an odd exception; it works fairly well made lots of different ways, not just Western or Gongfu brewed, but also "grandpa style," or even thermos brewed. If one assumes that only Western style brewing is going to be used this change to whole leaf versions would still be positive, but that offsets some of the potential for improved experience.
All of that is my own personal opinion; others could see brewing issues and likely cause and effect patterns far differently. That applies to most range related to tea. Expectations change a lot, and personal preference changes what is the best-case outcome quite a bit.
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there's always at least one issue with every picture (credit Suzana) |
Demand and awareness patterns
We talked as much about how distribution channels and end-point vending is affected by shifting the nature of the product (moving from broken leaf to whole leaf), but I'll settle more here on the consumer perspective instead. In taking up that other discussion it could easily seem like I'm blaming wholesale distribution systems and companies for being short-sighted, or favoring profits over an inclination to provide the highest quality tea, and all of this isn't intended as judgmental in that way. Change occurs slowly in relation to the activities of large companies and governments, or even related to consumer preferences (typically); it just is what it is. Selling what people already expect and want is a much easier, more direct path to profiting as a business. It works as well to look at related issues from a different angle and consider consumer preference instead of distribution or sales range, which is the angle I'll review the same issues in regard to instead.
Some people are getting it. Access to these teas is out there in different vending forms, and word gets out. Not nearly as much in India as in European markets and in America, as Rishi described it. That's partly due to expectations, to the developed tea enthusiast perspective in places like the US having been shaped by Chinese product ranges, in part. Indians don't already drink that much Chinese tea; they produce their own domestically.
To be clear when I'm talking about "tea enthusiast preference" here I'm generally not referring to people buying tea in tins at the grocery store. That's a different range of products. It seems so judgmental, to sweep aside the entire mainstream product range as irrelevant, but that's not entirely what I mean, and a bit beside the point. Those teas are fine, there is nothing wrong with consuming them and loving them, they're just something else, a different kind of thing. They are lower in quality and cost, in general. Part of why what I mean might not be clear is because what grocery stores sell varies by country, and by type of grocery store, specialty stores versus more mainstream versions. At the same time I say that I've been to grocery stores in a dozen different countries, throughout the US, a lot of Asia, in Australia, and in Russia, and it's a lot more consistent than one might expect. Tea aisles in China are really something to see but even in places like Japan the range can be limited (although they are a lot more open to foreign teas than I expected, based on very limited sampling input there).
Products sold by a mainstream online outlet like Yunnan Sourcing represent this "better quality" range I'm talking about. Or even Adagio, to a lesser extent, or Moychay, in Russia. Per ideas outlined by Ralph in the last talk--meeting with an Assam farmer and producer and smaller scale online Indian specialty tea vendor--the main channels in Germany sell tea not completely unlike grocery store tin versions, maybe just a slightly broader range across parts of the scale. Smaller shops and online vendors fill in higher quality source range (whole-leaf tea, higher quality Chinese and Japanese teas, a typical broad range of sheng pu'er and oolongs, etc.). In India Ketlee, that vendor outlet we discussed last week, and others like Tea Leaf Theory, represent attempts to source and distribute higher quality range.
Soon enough in one might question how broad the demand is for these ranges of tea, leading to the question of how relevant they are in relation to the grocery store versions (again which I'm not really condemning, or really clearly defining, even though I don't really drink much of that range). Are we talking about the equivalent of a $30-40 bottle of wine, something mid-range but priced beyond what many people would purchase, or $100-200 per bottle versions, that next level up, demanded by an even smaller group?
Right now by consumer count the demand for higher quality tea is limited (everywhere, per my understanding), even for 10-20 cents a gram moderate cost tea. The expense level is at the far low end of the scale though, in relation to wine. On the high side 3 grams of 20 cent a gram tea would easily brew two cups, at 30 cents a cup, and on that low side for "better wine" a glass of $30 / bottle costs about $8. To put both in perspective a retail take-away cup of coffee tends to sell for over $5 in the US now, which varies here in Bangkok depending on the outlet, but that range is common too.
Limited demand seems to be about limited awareness, not mostly about a cost barrier. People in the US overwhelmingly favor drinking tea-bag tea that costs less than 5 cents a cup, versus that 30 cent range, but I think many could easily afford the extra quarter. Then in interest-specific tea groups that can seem odd, since some people are debating whether $80 a cake sheng pu'er is good enough for them to drink or not (which is already beyond my own tea budget, to be clear). That's still 22 cents a gram, dividing out from a standard 357 gram amount, so still just at what I'm describing as the high side of high quality but moderate cost specialty tea.
Without someone having experienced any of this range I'm talking about it would all be far too abstract to make any sense of it. How could someone get any feel for the typical differences in wines that retail for $10, $30, and $100 per bottle if they never drank much wine at all? It could all seem a waste, something that only wealthier people need to be concerned about. Then it's a little odd setting that framing related to tea, and saying that a 30 cent cup of tea is out of bounds, while someone regularly buys $5 cups of coffee (or maybe $8 is more typical at Starbucks now). Water costs $1 a bottle, inexpensive versions of it. Again, it's probably more about awareness and developed preference based on prior exposure than a cost and value issue.
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Huyen's nephew learns about Darjeeling |
Other scope
Since that was a main point, that already involved a few tangents, I won't go further in detail about other discussion. The parts about tea processing were interesting, but I can't summarize that clearly, even if I wanted to. We talked a little about what is considered to be oolong in India, but it's probably as well just setting that aside, since use of terms and actually different character products tend to mix in such a discussion. If Indian oolong is ever a lot like Taiwanese or Fujian oolong then I've not tried that yet, but I've definitely tried some exceptional teas presented as Indian oolong, that were just something else. One other part about plantation worker issues stood out as worth a short description.
It seems as well to add a comment clarifying this directly from him, from later message discussion:
Darjeeling for a specialty tea region is plucking 4 seasons. It is rare because it is a plantation model. Those dependent on the plantation don't do anything else. This is challenging and explains a lot of the reasons why things are structured the way they are.
Rishi didn't really map out all of that part, or suggest how to resolve staff related concerns that remain problematic. Tea plantation worker pay is a concern, and other worker welfare and security issues. He said that standard pay rates, and what they can afford to pay to their harvest and processing staff, are on the low side, in relation to what would provide a high standard of living. And work demands and conditions are challenging, not ideal. He mentioned ways they were trying offset and resolve those concerns, which don't all relate to increasing worker pay. They are also focusing on employee welfare and benefit issues, trying to make sure that health care is available, and retirement support.
Both Suzana and Rishi mentioned regional factors and cultural issues that keep it all from being simple, competing broad forms of employment by regions, and patterns in work preferences that all employers need to work around. Since this was a shorter discussion, not explored in depth in terms of causes or potential resolution, it seems as well to just set it aside here.
It's interesting to consider how those issues went in relation to covid changing things, but we didn't get to that. Assuring worker safety must have been a nightmare, a complete impossibility to fully accomplish. Throughout all the discussion more focus was on tea though, especially on what Gopaldhara and Rohini are trying to do that's a bit different and challenging, which really seemed to work out well.
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