We hatched a plan with our guide, Robin, from the Singalia trek to skip out the middle man and walk with him from his village via the back roads to the Makaibari tea factory in Kurseong. He was very concerned that somehow his agent might find out so we had to scoot through some back alleys outside our hotel and cram into the back of a shared jeep with all our gear to Sonada. He was much more relaxed once we got down and we started a steep ascent out of town towards the forest. Small farms here had pretty gardens fenced with bamboo, growing cabbage, potatoes, parsnip, pak choy, peas and barley. Out of town we joined a forestry track which is used by Nepaleese bringing products via Sikkim into India. The Indian rupee is worth 1.6x more than the Nepaleese rupee so the 4-5 day walk is well worth it for them If they live near the border. One would have thought that herding 40 piglets would be a difficult task over this distance, but two Nepaleese men we came across made it look easy, one coaxing from the front and one hurrying along any stragglers at the back.
Further along we startled a barking deer, but unfortunately didn't get a good look at it before it disappeared into the undergrowth. Liam and I were feeling pretty tried when we stopped for some lunch at a misty tea house on top of a ridge. Robin told us it was an hour and a half to the bottom. Three hours later we got into Kurseong and Makaibari was another 15 minutes walk South of town. I don't know if we’re out of practice or if the walk was a lot further than the 18km we thought it was, but we were both struggling to walk at the end of it. Liam is convinced it is the latter.

We had a tea tasting session at Makaibari not long after we arrived and had the process of growing, plucking, and processing explained to us in detail. Makaibari has a fascinating story as it was the first tea plantation in Darjeeling to become organic (in 1994) and is the only remaining plantation which is owned by a local, rather than large corporations from the cities. The plantation covers approximately 650 acres and has four varieties of tea plant. Three of these are ‘fine’ varieties, the leaves of which are used to make good quality ‘Darjeeling tea’. All of these varieties have small, delicate leaves. The fourth variety has larger leaves and is used to make ‘Assam tea’. Assam tea is much lower quality and is used to make gumboot tea and chai (tea made with milk and sugar, no water). Every day during the picking season (March to November), 450 workers pluck tea in the plantation for 8 hours, each picking about 5kg of fine leaves, or 60kg of Assam leaves. About 70% of the workers are women, considered to have much better dexterity than men for plucking leaves precisely and efficiently.

During March and April, the ‘first flush’ of tea is harvested. The ‘second flush’ is harvested in May and June, following the spring rains. Both the first and second flush shoots are made into black tea. From July to November, other teas (oolong, green, white, and others) are made. As well timing of harvest, the processing of leaves differs for different tea types. Black teas are made by rolling the leaves, crushing cells and allowing oxidation to occur before drying. This darkens the leaves. Green and white teas are not rolled before drying, and therefore are unoxidised, retaining their light colour. Oolong teas are semi-oxidised. We both enjoyed the oolong best, with a sweet light flavour and no bitterness. Forgive me for the spiel, but this is a tea lovers paradise!

We are staying at a home stay of a tea pickers family with delicious food and a small insight into life here, including 2 sleepless nights listening to the village come alive with dogs after 9pm. We've enjoyed a local resident family of monkeys in the trees jut up the road, and taking it easy in the tea plantations recovering from our walk down from Darjeeling. Unfortunately we are here a bit early to see the plucking and processing in full swing, however, if it is possible for me to enjoy tea any more than I already do, I definitely will.