Making Tea at Makaibari

November 19, 2011

During our visit to Darjeeling, Dan and I decided to pass away a couple of the foggy, rainy days with a home stay near the Makaibari Tea Estate. Located a 40-minute walk downhill (not uphill, we found out the hard way, although it is pretty up there) from Kurseong, the Makaibari Tea Estate Factory overlooks 68 hectares (roughly 170 acres) of tea, tea, and more tea! Makaibari grows three varieties of tea: clonal, hybrid, and assam. All three of these plants produce their world famous green and black teas. Companies such as Starbuck's TAZO tea buy tea from this tea estate. 

There are three seasons in which tea is harvested. The first flush, which produces the best tasting tea is March and April. The second flush, a little lower quality is picked during the Monsoon season, June-August. And the lowest on the scale (although much like wine tasting, neither of us could really pick out that much of a difference) is the tea picked during the Autumn season. The top bright green leaves of the plant are harvested (reminds me of picking basil) by the 750 workers who work on the tea plantation year round. The workers ranging in age from 18-60 are paid a meager 100 rupees a day (around $2) and are required to pick at least 8kg a day. Under 8kg per day and their wages are cut, more than 8kg a day and their wages are raised. 

And although the low labor wages frustrated me a bit, it is indeed a healthy and happy working environment and the tour of the tea factory was fascinating. Inside the Makaibari Tea Factory there are five steps to producing loose leaf green and black teas.

1 – After the tea is picked it is withered overnight in large trays that conduct hot air. The tea leaves are turned every two hours by hand. 

2 – The tea is then placed into a rolling machine for 45 minutes which breaks and opens the cell walls of the tea leaves giving tea its flavor. After the rolling machine the clumps are then broken down by hand.

3 – For black tea, the leaves are then placed on shelves to ferment for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Green tea is not fermented, giving it the difference in flavor.

4 – Both green and black teas are then placed into a Mason dryer at 200°F for 50 minutes leaving only 30% of the moisture left in the leaves.

5 – Finally the dried leaves are passed onto a women-only job, sorting. The sorting is done by hand to remove twigs and other imperfections and then placed into a machine to sort further into quality. The highest quality tea that Makaibari produces is their Silver Tip Green Tea, which was the official tea of the Beijing Olympics. The tips of both black and green teas are the highest quality and best flavor. Leftover dust from production is the lowest quality and what is used in convenient tea bags.

Sweeping up the "dust"

I was most interested in touring Makaibari in the land of tea (Darjeeling) because of its commitment to organic and bio-dynamic practices. Makaibari has been in continuous production since 1859, but only recently started following organic practices in the 1970s when the self-proclaimed Rajah of Darjeeling returned home from London with Steiner's principles fresh in his mind. In order to connect more of the buyers with farmers, something the Western world is eagerly searching for, a group of tea farmers worked together to open their homes for home stays at the Makaibari Tea Estate. Our home stay included a lovely pink bedroom, a tour of one of the four areas of the tea estate, a tour of the factory, sampling rice beer, bottomless cups of tea, and home-cooked meals by our factory-worker host's sister-in-law. The experience made for a great opportunity not only to learn about tea, but to give two tourists an opportunity to communicate with honest local folk, which can be a rarity while trying to experience the touristy sights of India.