Darjeeling: A History of the World's Greatest Tea

by Jeff Koehler

Darjeeling's tea bushes stretch across a picturesque landscape steeped in religious, sacred and mythical history. Planted at high elevation in the heart of the Eastern Himalayas, in an area of northern India bound by Nepal to the west, Bhutan to the east and Sikkim to the north, the rows of brilliant green, waist-high shrubs that coat the steep slopes and valleys around this Victorian 'hill town' produce only a fraction of the world's tea, and less tan one per cent of India's total. Yet the tea from this limited crop, with its characteristic bright, amber- coloured brew and muscatel flavours - delicate and flowery, with hints of apricots and peaches - is generally considered the best in the world.

This is the story of how Darjeeling developed its prodigious tea industry under Imperial British rule. It is a fascinating portrait of the region from the days of the Raj to the 'voodoo farmers' of the present day, who achieve world-record prices for their fine teas, all set against the backdrop of the looming Himalayas and drenching monsoons.

It is a story rich in intrigue, full of adventurers and unlikely successes in culture and religion, ecology and terroir, and one that began with one of the most audacious acts of corporate smuggling in history.

It is also the tale of how the industry had spiralled into decline by the end of the twentieth century, and how this paradisiacal spot in the high Himalayas now seethes with union unrest and a violent struggle for independent statehood. It is on the front line against the devastating effects of climate change and decades of harmful farming practices, a war that is being fought using radical methods.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Tea, Food, India, Travel, Food and Drink

304 pages, Hardcover

First published May 12, 2015

Reviews

[Cora Tea Party Princess · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 Words: Tea, history, India, Britain, Darjeeling.

I don't read a lot of non-fiction, but when I do I wish it was like this.

I loved the mix of historical fact and modern anecdote, the rich descriptions of each place and person mentioned. And I loved learning more about my favourite drink.


I won a copy of this from Bloomsbury's Facebook page.

[Randal White · Rating 4 out of 5]

An extremely thorough coverage of all things tea, with a strong concentration on Darjeeling tea. What it is, where it comes from, how it is prepared, why it is different than other tea. A history of tea, India and the British rule of India. The effect of terroir on tea, the status of the tea industry and the tea-growing regions of today. What the future may hold for the Darjeeling area, and why. You will come away with a new found appreciation of your morning tea!

[Hester · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished this book while I was actually in Darjeeling. Personally, I found it hard to find good travel literature on the region. This book gives a great overview of the area, and even gives some nice tips, like recommending eating the chicken cutlets at the Bagdogra airport (good advice). The book, though, is not meant as a guidebook. It is more dreamy--the kind of book you read to learn about a beautiful, exotic place half a world away. Recommended.

I had a couple small quibbles:

1. I would have liked to learn more about the tea pluckers and their families.

2. I would have liked to learn more about the region as a whole. It some ways, it read like a biography of Rajah Bannerjee and a history of the Makaibari tea estate. That is not a slur--Rajah Bannerjee is utterly fascinating. Likable, too. I was fortunate enough to meet him and I would have liked to read about some other people, too. The author's description of him, by the way, is accurate. I just realized I gave everyone else a good reason to read the book. It will not disappoint.

3. I wish he had written about the current road improvement projects. He wrote about lots about local projects, and I wish I could have put them in context. I think I saw seven major projects while there, and I was on a great new road, too. I wonder what changed recently.

4. I don't think he mentioned the giant squirrels! Three foot long squirrels!

[Tariq Mahmood · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love tea, always have and always will. And so I picked this book. Not only did I get an absolute idea of the production of tea, but also became enamoured with the the passionate producers of Darjeeling tea, arguably the best tea in the world. The book is more than tea though, it is a book about Darjeeling the city. A city created by the British colonisers to escape the hot plains of India, and to produce tea. Tea is definitely the gift of the English to the world.

I also loved the highly romanised narrative especially of the natural scenes depicted in the book. I did struggle with the long passages explaining the business models though. All in all, the book was a very enjoyable experience.

[Bookworm · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Tea is a major drink of choice for me and I enjoy reading up on it. I was intrigued by this book cover that says Darjeeling is the world's greatest tea. I would need more information to see what supports this premise.
 
Author Koehler takes us through the origins of Darjeeling and tea, from the discovery of tea, how tea is harvested, the issues facing the industry, the history and the role tea has played in it and more. Some of it is quite fascinating: from the role tea played in the Opium Wars to how tea is used in trade between India and Russia, Iran, etc. This was probably the most interesting parts of the book for me as I never quite realized *how* important a commodity tea has been.
 
But otherwise, the book is an incredible mishmash. Bouncing between the history to how tea is harvested to how it can be prepared, etc. I found the book was very uneven. I'm genuinely shocked at the number of reviews that found the author's writing "engaging". It's clear the author is very passionate about the topic, but that did not translate well to the page.
 
And as other reviewers note, the book is written from a Western POV. The author says "Darjeeling's tea story is romantic." on page 7 of my hardcover copy. Romantic...for whom? The book flap itself calls tea/the tea industry in India came to symbolize British imperial rule. Along with the role it played in the Opium Wars, I just couldn't agree. Sometimes the author goes off and waxes poetic about his subject and it can get a bit wearing. 
 
Still, there were definitely parts of the book that were interesting and I did learn more. But I am surprised the book is rated so highly. I got it as a bargain book but recommend the library or skipping it instead.

[Avinash Gupta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeff Koehler’s book- Darjeeling: The Colourful and Precarious Fate of the World’s Greatest tea, is a smashing book, the one you must not miss if you are fan of tea, Darjeeling, history and Himalayas.

It follows Darjeeling's journey from a small hill town and major brand of tea. Jeff takes us to these historical moments but does not isolates the modern anecdotes. There are meetings with different tea gardens, traders and enthusiasts who narrates the story of Darjeeling’s charm. The book is the journey you will love to indulge.

Full Review : https://avirandom.com/2018/05/29/on-j...

[Christina Dudley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun and informative read--I've never had Darjeeling tea and now would very much like to, so it was discouraging to read that there are fake Darjeelings and blended "Darjeelings" (that are only about half-Darjeeling), unless you have the $$$ to shell out at some very high-end tea shop or are having tea with the queen of England or the Sultan of Brunei.

The history of tea in India was fascinating because it incorporated a history of the East India Company and the British Raj and intrigues in China. The Opium War was pure evil: getting the Chinese addicted to opium in order to correct the trade imbalance created by British love of tea! Interesting that some progressives in England boycotted sugar because of the slave trade, but I never heard of anyone boycotting tea to protest drugging people up.

It's hard not to think Darjeeling tea is doomed, between climate change, political issues and a workforce wanting to get off the farm and do something more lucrative, so, if you would really like to taste something special before it's gone, better work on buddying up with the Sultan of Brunei.

[Avishek Agarwal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everything one needs to learn about Tea, its history, and how it made a place in the Indian landscape via the British colonial rule. Especially, how Darjeeling and the surrounding regions were cultivated to produce some of the best Teas that the world produces.

Love the way the author has snipped conversations with prominent figures from the belt who have dedicated their entire life to this beverage, and the current struggles that marr the industry.

Read it, if the drink intrigues you. Read it, if you ever wondered what is the deal with Darjeeling Tea!

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent book about an arguably obscure topic. There are a lot of books out there about the general history of tea, but none dealing exclusively with Darjeeling. I was expecting the narrative to be very similar (if not identical) to overviews of the history of tea I've read in the past. This was not the case. At the beginning there is a bit of a general history given to provide context, but the majority of the book contains information I had never come across before (I have read at least 3 books on the history of tea). It gets a bit slow around the middle but it is worth it to push through. There are also some relatively simple yet exciting recipes included.

[Richard Marney · Rating 4 out of 5]

A journey of the mind and tastebuds during the pandemic lockdown, the book is a delightful mix of history and an in-depth look into this masterpiece of a tea. A visit to the magical corner of India must wait for now, but my heart longs even more than before to explore the hills, plantations and tea houses.

[Stephanie Ridiculous · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was a lot of useful and interesting stuff in here, but unfortunately it really slogged on for entirely too long. There was a lot of unnecessary overwriting and I think the tea gets lost in the sauce quite a few times. The first half of the book is super interesting and well formatted, but as it went on it seemed to lose focus and took winding paths to the point.

[Luciana Vichino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting facts but poor text and mostly written as an informative report on the industry. Despite the not so pleasant reading I have learned and got curious to know Darjeeling.

[Jordan Stivers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Darjeeling: The Colorful History and Precarious Fate of the World’s Greatest Tea was an absolutely fabulous read. So often with food history books, the writer gets so tied up in the cold information and forgets to make the reader feel attachment to the subject. Koehler did not do that here. He seamlessly blends the information about the tea itself and the history surrounding it with beautiful imagery and powerful emotive writing. As the reader, you truly experience the ups and downs of being involved with Darjeeling: you revel in a successful selling flush and you are devastated by a particularly bad monsoon season.

It is a really romantic story, one that starts with questionable characters and the stealing of Chinese secrets. Today, the story is of these struggling gardens with a beautiful, unique product made by the old ways in this special area that also hosts all these perilous factors of terrible weather, inaccessibility, unstable politics, and a waning workforce. Talk about an uphill climb!

The delicacy of Darjeeling combined with the urgency many of the gardens face to remain open created great tension throughout the book. It really is a product that cannot be made anywhere else, a handicraft of centuries. I loved the description of the daily workings of the gardens. It’s stunning how hard they all work every day for mere pounds of the tea. The opening section (a tea auction that fetches a record price for Darjeeling) was particularly exhilarating.

I absolutely LOVED the beginning sections for each part that gave the reader a ‘taste’ of that season’s flush. It is now a life goal of mine to try Darjeeling autumn flush tea (p.167-9) as that part was my favorite of the whole book. Koehler just does such a wonderful job of controlling the flow of the book, jumping from the big perspective of the historical sweep down to the moment-in-time perspective of individual garden managers and a single cup of tea.

At the end of the book is a list of recipes as well. What foodie does not love that! I already am planning to try three recipes: the masala omelet, Glenburn’s chicken and fresh mint hamper sandwiches, and the specced chicken cutlets. Yum! A big thank-you to Koehler for a lovely read that now has a treasured place on my bookshelf!

Favorite quotation: “Fermentation is simply a process of death and decay. We are afraid of death—but love the flavor of it.” (p. 84)

*Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book through the GoodReads First Reads program. I want to thank Bloomsbury Publishing for the copy and the opportunity to read it.

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a most interesting book. The author has done extensive research not only into how to grow, harvest, pack the tea but the proper way to brew and drink tea. Koehler is a natural story teller which makes the book a delight to read.

The area or region of Darjeeling sits in the upper right hand corner of India. The mountainous region is bordered by Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan and the area has been unchanged for the past 150 years. This area produces the most expensive tea in the world.
Koehler tells the tale of how the British, who have acquired a taste for tea, sent out Scottish botanist Robert Fortune on a dangerous, covert mission into mainland China to smuggle out the tools to launch a new tea growing area in British India. The story of Robert Fortune reads like a spy novel.

Fortune smuggled out hundreds of tea bushes along with eight Chinese tea experts to the former Mughal garden in Saharanpur along the Indian foothills of the Himalayas. The Chinese tea flourished in the mountains but did not do as well in the low lands. The area called Assam is the main area for the native Indian tea. By the end of the 19th century, Britain was importing less than half of its tea from China most now coming from India.

Koehler tells about the tea plantation, he says they are called tea gardens. The average tea garden is 553 acres and produces 220,000 pounds of tea. There are 87 tea gardens in Darjeeling. Tea bushes were taken to various areas of India but different soil and temperature produce different teas. Only those grown in Darjeeling can be called Darjeeling tea. The author states the tea gardens are facing many problems that will affect the future of the famous tea, soil erosion, loss of workers, failure to plant new plants and so on. After reading this book one feels almost like a tea expert. I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. Fajer Al-Kaisi narrated the book.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I chose Darjeeling: The Colorful History and Precarious Fate of the World's Greatest Tea because as we all know, I love learning about all things Indian. Also, they drink this tea on Downton Abbey and I was curious about how an Indian tea came to be popular in England – if the characters on that show drink it, it must be good tea!

The history of the tea is fascinating. It arrived in India in a dramatic fashion – being stolen from China. Today the tea is grown in tea gardens, which are really huge plantations. The relationship of the tea garden workers to the owners is a totally different arrangement from anything I’ve ever heard of before. This book also touches on the state of Darjeeling tea today. The regulation process needs some work – there is a lot of fake Darjeeling tea out there.

Koehler goes into a lot of detail about the physical properties of the tea and how it’s grown and harvested. This part didn’t interest me nearly as much as the history aspect of the book but that’s probably because I’m not much of a tea drinker myself. Incidentally, I tried some Darjeeling tea for the first time after finishing this book and I thought it was really good. I don’t care much for regular black tea so I think there must truly be something special about it.

I listened to the audiobook version of this book. The narrator had a mellow voice with just a touch of an Indian accent that made it a pleasure to listen too. The only thing I didn’t like was that he used a full-on Indian accent when reading a quote from an Indian person. It seemed odd to do that for a non-fiction book.

I really enjoyed learning about a tiny subset of Indian culture that I knew nothing about before. I think tea drinkers of all sorts will enjoy it as well.

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book covering pretty much everything you could want to know regarding tea, and specifically that grown in the Darjeeling region of India (which is the most expensive and most highly regarded black tea). Topics include the original discovery/invention of tea, the importation of tea plants from China to India during and after the Opium Wars, the establishment of tea plantations in Darjeeling, how tea is grown and processed and evaluated and sold today, how to distinguish between the different "flushes" of Darjeeling tea, and the future of tea (with problems such as climate change, competition from tea grown in Africa, and the decision to switch to new styles of farming like organic or biodynamic). I liked the modern-day sections better, although that might be simply because I already knew most of the history – and if you're at all familiar with, say, the Opium Wars, a short chapter summarizing the entire complex situation isn't going to add anything new. I did catch a few small errors in the history sections (for instance, Koehler claims that spices were so popular in medieval Europe because they were used "to cover the taste of spoiling meats", which is not a thing that happened, no matter how many people repeat the myth), but nothing major. He even includes tea recipes at the end of the book! They range from ones that include tea in the cooking process (such as tea-smoked chicken) to ones that are just good to eat with tea (like scones and clotted cream).

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

There was something about that cover and the blurb on the back that made me impulsively buy this book on a cold, snowy day last winter. And I definitely got my money's worth. The book has a little bit of everything in it - History, of how tea travelled to India from China thanks to the British, how the British rule developed the tree gardens as well as the plantation culture, Geography - of the Eastern states of India and especially Darjeeling and its development into the present day city, Sociology - of the lives of the people, their culture and the political conflict in their demand for statehood, Agriculture - of tea cultivation, the soil, the weather, the wildlife and the switch towards organic farming. Like I said, a little bit of everything and some more. And what delightful, poetic writing - describing the magic of tea and the hills. And wraps up with some very handy recipes that I can't wait to try.
This book had me brewing more cups of tea than my usual quota (even though I am more of an Assam tea person!) and I know I HAVE to visit beautiful Darjeeling as soon as I can. It also had me knowingly slow down my reading pace, like slowly savouring a fine cup of chai. A truly fantastic read.

[Anupriya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every time I read this book, I wanted to brew myself a cup of Darjeeling tea. Lucky me, I have a stock of Darjeeling tea leaves at hand.
The love for Darjeeling tea, a thing I inherit from my dad, is what swayed me to pick this book. And what a great find this was. It transports you as you read it, to the misty green hills of Darjeeling. I could smell the tea as the author described its floral, muscatel fragrance.
It was a delight to read about the history of Darjeeling tea, it's a relatively younger industry than I would have imagined.
I loved reading about the sustainable and organic farming method employed by these tea plantations, and knowing about it fills me with reverence for the plantations. It is something they do not for money, the yield in fact goes down on going organic, but out of respect for the land and the life around them.
Darjeeling is now a must-visit place for me and I plan on coming back with kilos of their premium tea.

[Lesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating insight into the history of Darjeeling's tea gardens and what makes their teas the finest in the world. It was a dream come true for me when I visited Darjeeling earlier this year, where I got to buy this book, sample and buy some tea, but alas, not see Kanchenjunga, or visit any tea gardens

[David Nguyen · Rating 1 out of 5]

WTF! Stay away from the audiobook version unless you want to hear White dude doing Indian voice.

[Eustacia Tan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since I spent last year doing quite a bit of general reading about tea, I thought I’d take it a bit more in-depth this year. That means taking both a wider look at the issues surrounding tea (hopefully there’s a contemporary book or blog I can read!) and going in depth into the history of teas. Darjeeling focuses on one specific tea, so it’s exactly what I’m looking for.

Subtitled “The Colorful History and Precarious Fate of the World’s Greatest Tea” (I suspect many in China might dispute the title), the book is divided into 4 sections, for the four flushes. Each section starts with a description of the tea made from that flush, and then goes into either the history or present of the tea. The first flush starts with a general history of tea and then moves into a history of the region. The second flush goes into detail about Darjeeling, how the area was developed and how the tea is made today. The third flush, Monsoon Flush, looks at the history of the area and how that has impacted the plantations, as well as the crises faced by the farms today. Finally, the fourth flush, the Autumn Flush, covers the modern Darjeeling industry, including the question of organic and biodynamic farming, tourism, and even co-op farms. The book ends with a collection of recipes, and I have to admit I only glaced through that.

This book was fascinating and I learnt a lot from it. As it turns out, Darjeeling was first grown by Dr. Archibald Campbell, a Scottish civil servant, in 1841 “with stock that came from the nurseries in the western Himalayan foothills. The trees came to bear in the second half of that decade, and the Company inspector reported in 1853 that both Chinese and Assam varieties were doing well in Campbell’s garden.” The tea was actually a happy accident, as the British discovered that the Chinese plants smuggled over thrived in the mountainous climate of Darjeeling.

And it is this climate that affects the taste – that’s why Darjeeling was awarded Geographical Indication status by the WTO in 2004, and Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) by the European Commission in October 2011. According to the book, the combination of sunshine for no more than 5-6 hours a day for 180 days, mists and clouds as well as enough water and just enough sun gives it is unique flavour, while proximity to the snow-covered Himalayas “gives a ‘crisping effect’ to flavour”. Plus, the “human touch in every step” makes it unique.

I mentioned four flushes just now. They are:

- First flush (late Feb to Mid April): This is a spring tea, and the steeped liquour is pale gold, with grassy and floral notes.
- Second flush (May to June): This tea is fuller but still relaxed, less grassy flavours, muscatel flavour more pronounced. Its colour is a “bright, deep amber”.
- Moonsoon flush (July to September): The tea tea becomes even redder, while the heavy rain causes the prices to drop. This season’s teas are mostly sold as blends. There are also some green teas made from this flush, although other estates do set aside teas from ‘better’ flushes to make green tea as well.
- Autumn Flush (October into November): the tea liquor “ruddy copper, bright auburn, even burgundy” while the flavour is more robust and round with “mellowed hints of musky spice and smoke”. The tea from this flush is considered to have the most complex flavours, while its prices are not as high as the first and second flushes, thanks to the outside world being busy with Christmas.
I also learnt that there are other, non-black, Darjeeling teas: Apart from the green teas made during the monsoon season, there are also white teas (e.g. Silver Tips Imperial from Makaibari), and oolong.

Sadly, Darjeeling tea faces challenges such as

- Climate change, which results in the rain comes at the wrong time and reducing the harvest;
High worker absenteeism, which in some gardens go as high as 50% while others are 25-30%. A large factor for this is the fact that tea plucking isn’t seen as a desirable job, even by families who have always been tea pluckers;
- Severe political instability because West Bengal would like to be independent and bandh – shutdowns- are not uncommon. This also impacts Darjeeling teas.
- Counterfeiting from teas grown outside of Darjeeling. This is somewhat countered by Darjeeling’s PGI status, but farms grown from regions near Darjeeling are becoming competitive. Plus, the shutdowns make alternatives to Darjeeling appealing to buyers who want a steady supply of tea that tastes like Darjeeling.

I would recommend this book to anyone who’s looking into studying more about Darjeeling tea. This book goes beyond the taste and history of Darjeeling, covering the challenges it faces and the initiatives it’s undertaking as well. There are also lots of stories about the tea gardens of Darjeeling, which are sure to appeal to any tea lover.

This review was first posted at Eustea Reads

[Sounak Sengupta · Rating 4 out of 5]

এক কাপ চা। রাজনীতি থেকে বলিউড, সাহিত্য টু অর্থনীতি — পাড়ার ঠেক থেকে উত্তরবঙ্গের দামী হোটেল, এক কাপ চা ইজ ভেরি ইম্পর্ট্যান্ট। অথচ কতজন জানেন ওই এক কাপ চায়ের মধ্যে লুকিয়ে আছে তিনটি বৃহৎ দেশের ইতিহাস — সাম্রাজ্যবাদের বিরুদ্ধে লড়াই আর শত লক্ষ প্রাণের বলিদান?
দার্জিলিঙের এক কাপ চায়ের ইতিহাস যেন এক রুদ্ধশ্বাস থ্রিলার। উত্তরবঙ্গের ওই তুলনামূলক ছোট্ট শহর আর শহরতলি মিলিয়ে রয়েছে মাত্র ৮৭ টি tea estate। সব মিলিয়ে মোট ৪৮ হাজার একর জমি — দ্বিতীয় রাণী এলিজাবেথের গ্রীষ্মকালের ছুটির জন্য শখের বলম্যরাল এস্টেটের সমান স্রেফ।
স্যার জোসেফ হুকার বলেছিলেন দার্জিলিঙে চায়ের বাগান বানানো টাকার অপচয়। কারণ দার্জিলিঙের সমতল থেকে অনেক উঁচুতে ও অতিরিক্ত আদ্রতা আর কম সূর্যের রশ্মির জন্য। হুকার সাহেবকে ভুল প্রমাণ করতে, সাদা চামড়ার সাম্রাজ্যবাদের মুখে চুন দিতে ষড়যন্ত্রে নামল উত্তরবঙ্গের প্রকৃতি, ইতিহাস, বহমান ট্র্যাডিশান আর সংস্কৃতি।
আজও দার্জিলিঙের সেকেণ্ড ফ্লাশের জন্য লণ্ডনের রিৎজ, মে ফেয়ার বা ল্যাঙহামে দৈনিক পাঁচটি টি টেস্টিং সেশনও ৫-৬ মাস আগে থেকে বুকড হয়ে যায়, স্যুট-জ্যাকেট ছাড়া সবার প্রবেশ নিষেধ। বাকিংহ্যাম প্যালেসের অন্দরমহলেও এই চা পৌঁছে যায় খুবই নির্বাচিত কিছু টি-পটে।
আর এই এক কাপ চায়ের ইতিহাসই উত্তরবঙ্গের ইতিহাস, ভারত, ব্রিটিশ আর চিনের ইতিহাস, আফিম, সাম্রাজ্যবাদ, ইস্ট ইণ্ডিয়া কোম্পানি, মকাইবাড়ির রাজা ভট্টাচার্য, তথাকথিত ভুডু প্র্যাক্টিসিং নেটিভ আর গোর্খাল্যাণ্ডের ইতিহাস। এই বই এক সিটিঙে পড়ে নেওয়া যায়। আর পরের বার রোহিণী থেকে শুরু হওয়া পাউণ্ডের মত সবুজ চা বাগানের শুকিয়ে যাওয়া রক্তে রাঙানো কালো চায়ের কাপকে অবশ্যই আলাদা আঙ্গিকে দেখা শুরু করবেন।

[Abu Syakireen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Darjeeling tea is said to be the best tea in the world. Althought it might be true, I never got the chance to taste it. Nonetheless, reading this book gave some reason as to why it is the best tea.
The book are divide by the season when the is pluck. As the season changes so does the tea flavor changes. The book start by telling the history of tea and how it come to India through British meddling. Eventually to the region known as Darjeeling. In addition to history, the book also wrote of the process how the various tea garden in Darjeeling pluck, process, packaging, transportation, and selling this famous black tea. Along with that, this written work laid out problems that is facing by those tea gardens to continue producing tea in this modern time. As well as how they are trying sving the problem and continuing makinh Darjeeling tea relevant.
Overall, it is a pretty rounded book. It tell about the past, present and the future of Darjeeling. Tea. Making this book worth reading. In addition to that, the tea and its accompanied food recipe at the end is worth checking out.

[emaⁿ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is nothing short of amazing, and I feel so lucky to have read something so fine and wonderful, on a subject that I would have never thought about so deeply otherwise. From the curiosity of someone who learnt about British rule in their country in every school year 5th grade onwards, this part of history was something I'd never heard of before. A view of a scene from an angle I had never considered before. Jeff Koehler takes something as mundane as tea and turns it into a magical story of a land, a people, and an industry, and weaves it in a way that I turned into my middle-school self where I was finding excuses to read a little bit more than my taregt. But! Like a cup of tea or coffee that you want to savour, this book is best enjoyed slowly, in sips and pauses where you take things in, think about it, and then raise the cup for the next one.

[Hallie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a book that I really wanted to like more, but overall, I just didn't. It's a fantastic topic with great stories on what life is really like on these tea gardens. It's obvious the amount of work that went into it. But parts of it just really dragged, particularly the sections on the history of tea. It's worth reading as it covers a wide, wide range of topics related to Darjeeling well, from garden life to the auction room, from the current social and political issues pressuring the industry to various gardens' attempts to innovate. You just need to be able to hang through the less engaging parts.

[Bernie Gourley · Rating 5 out of 5]

As Bordeaux or Tokaj are to wine, Darjeeling is to tea, producing a quality beverage considered by many to be the best in the world. However, this isn’t merely the story of how this region of northern Bengal (or, alternatively, Gorkhaland) came to produce a unique kind of tea that would be sought-after around the world. It’s also a story of empire and how Britain’s insatiable demand for tea drove major developments in geopolitics. It’s yet further the story of recent troubled times of Darjeeling tea, from labor shortages to environmental degradation, and what tea estates have done to adapt – from management / organization changes to organic production techniques.

Lessons in the history and geography of tea may seem niche and uninteresting, but the story of tea is actually quite fascinating, involving Opium Wars, the Black Hole of Calcutta, and an industry shakeup resulting from India’s independence.

I found this book compelling, and thought it did a good job of zooming in and out between local and global (and past to present) to maintain the interest of a diverse readership. Whether the book is exploring attempts to transplant tea shrubs and expertise from China or the changing customer base for Darjeeling tea, it’s an engaging and thought-provoking story. If you’re interested in tea, world history, or agribusiness, you’ll likely find something in this book to hold your attention.

[Victoria]

I don't drink much Darjeeling tea. I don't get the hype, and for me Chinese tea will always be better than Indian. However, that didn't stop me enjoying this read. This is a thorough history of tea, and of tea's place in the history of India and British colonialism. It also explains what tea is and why Darjeeling tea is unique, how it was developed and popularized, and how it is grown, processed and prepared. Told through anecdotes and quotations, this non-fiction is informative without reading like a textbook.

[Arghya Sarkar · Rating 4 out of 5]

(4.5/5) Beautifully written. Amazed at all the different directions and dimensions the book covers. History, geography, and science. Past, present, and future. Environmental, political, and social. Extremely well-researched (Jeff spent a long time in Darjeeling personally to collect and verify his content). My only complaint is the slightly difficult writing (both in sentence structure, and in choice of words - learnt bunch of new ones) that took forever to read. There are some great pictures to accompany the book by. Also don't forget the recipes at the end. Plan to try them out over time!

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author offers a thorough review of the Darjeeling tea history and industry. It is a compilation of agriculture, history, processing, tasting notes, economics, branding and marketing, and labor relations. The structure is very creative with history following the growing cycle and seasons. The descriptions are thorough and clear without flowery over the top adjectives. The book has lots of details but they don't detract from the big picture.

[Nichole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gosh. I picked up this book because I had the fortune to go to Darjeeling during my study abroad in India (and I just really love tea).
This was just a delight to read. It gives you so much knowledge and glimpses into the process, history, politics, and heart of Darjeeling tea. It really helps put into perspective what goes into the little packets of tea I took away from Darjeeling over a year ago.