Wandering through the homeland of Indian tea gardens

I remember a tea friend once said: black tea in winter is like the necessity of salt in cooking. I couldn't agree more! My winter is incomplete without black tea! Among the four major black teas in the world, two of them actually come from India, so my second stop on this tea journey is undoubtedly --- India!

Before going, the various 'superhuman' traits of the Indian people, the chaotic traffic, and the dirty, messy streets filled with sewage made me a bit anxious. However, upon arriving in this ancient and magical country, I was moved by its inclusiveness.

This is a diverse yet harmonious world, where different religions, temples, and clothing styles coexist peacefully, and even various animals can live together in the same space! Cows in India live happier lives than one might imagine; Indians not only do not eat beef but also allow cows to live as they please. When tired, they simply lie down in the middle of the road, and no one disturbs their sweet dreams. So, here we have high-quality, very tempting fresh milk, combined with the tea-drinking habits preserved from the British colonial era, making milk tea an indispensable drink for people of all classes in India! They brew the tea in advance, usually black tea, and then add sugar or fresh milk as needed, accompanied by homemade snacks. No milk tea, no life! One can only imagine how enormous India's own consumption of tea is!

Fortunately, all 22 states in India produce tea, with an annual tea production of over a million tons. Among them, Assam black tea accounts for over 50% of the total production in India, mainly produced in Assam state. It has a rich color and a mellow, sweet taste, making it particularly suitable for making milk tea. Assam is located in northeastern India, surrounded by rivers, valleys, and the Himalayas, with climate conditions that are very suitable for black tea cultivation, resulting in Assam's unique flavor. When we visited, it was the autumn tea-picking season, and in the tea gardens organically combined with natural forests, young girls could be seen everywhere putting the straps of their tea baskets on their foreheads and tossing the picked tea leaves into the baskets. I couldn't help but marvel; these girls are truly remarkable. Doesn't that hurt their heads?

After visiting the tea gardens, we went to the MEGA factory to see the production process of CTC Assam black tea! The tea production here in Assam is fully mechanized, and the rows of machines are quite impressive! The leaves go through various selections, fermentation, and sorting before being transformed into granules, changing from green to reddish-brown, conquering more than half of the world's tea drinkers.

Assam black tea is classified by granule size into BPS, BOP, BOPSM, BP, PF, PD, D, and CD. This classification is based on the aperture sizes of the various layers of the sieve and does not represent the quality levels of the tea leaves as many might think.

After Assam, we headed to the Darjeeling tea-producing area --- the Darjeeling plateau in West Bengal. Here, the temperature difference between day and night is significant, and there is a lot of mist, which creates the unique aroma of this tea, possessing a distinctive quality reminiscent of sandalwood mixed with wine or champagne, with a delicate and smooth taste and an elegant fragrance. Due to the steep terrain in Darjeeling, the tea leaves are all hand-picked, and the labor is akin to walking on rooftops, resulting in a much lower yield compared to Assam. Therefore, the scale of tea factories in Darjeeling cannot be compared to those in Assam, being more eco-friendly, and many of the equipment is still MADE IN CHINA. The collected tea leaves are sent to withering troughs, and after rolling, fermentation, drying, color sorting, grading, large leaf cutting, medium leaf cutting, and manual auxiliary sieving, we have the world-renowned Darjeeling black tea!

Here, there is not only good tea but also beautiful scenery! The sunshine, blue sky, the nearby Himalayas, and the various colored houses scattered across the mountains are breathtaking! Moreover, the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, famous worldwide along with the tea, is a railway built in the 19th century that still operates ancient steam trains today. It has improved the previously treacherous mountain transportation, connecting the towns in the mountains with the plains below, promoting local economic development. The little train crosses mountains, passes through villages, often brushing past pedestrians, shops, cars, and the doorsteps of local residents, and along the way, there are these proverb stones that can be seen everywhere. Everyone can guess what they mean, so remember to leave a message!

Kolkata is an important transit station for our trip. As a modern center of education, science, culture, and politics in India, it was once the capital of British India during the colonial period, laying the foundation for its unique tea culture history, and it has the largest tea auction center in the country, where hundreds of thousands of tons of tea are traded each year. Now it is the era of 'silent auctions', without the traditional noisy bidding, but it also lacks some of the liveliness.

I came just for the tea, but I haven't truly understood this country yet. Perhaps this regret is the motivation to return, looking forward to it!