NEPAL
Tea Report June 2015
Sandakphu Tea Plantation and factory sits high in the foothills of Sandakphu Peak in Nepal’s Jasbirey Village in Ilam district. It is here that a group of local farmers and shareholders of Sandakphu Processors (P) Ltd, (headed by one of the very few women tea entrepreneurs in the country), is producing Nepal's rarest teas.
Sandakphu’s tea plants were established in 1990 using cuttings and seed from older gardens in Ilam. These bushes are young and fresh and have high levels of aroma.
Now available from the garden are seven specialty teas from four different growing seasons. Ruby Black is a traditional handmade tea from Jasbirey Village and the dark, rusty-brown leaf yields a strong, lively character with a gentle finish; Himalayan Hand Rolled is crafted by the hands of the village women and gives a fruity liquor with a mellow floral aroma of orchids and other wild flowers that thrive in the Ilam Hiamalayas; Himalayan Gold is a complex earthy black tea plucked during the summer monsoon that brews a copper red liquor with notes of wild honey; Khumbu Black took three years to develop, has dry leaves that look black but have a dark green luster, and gives a liquor that is reminiscent of pine trees in the spring; the First Flush black tea made from one small bud and one new leaf is hand-picked and has all the delicate floral notes of a Himlayan early spring tea; the one silver bud and one young leaf that make the White Orange tea are plucked in mid-summer or autumn, and the beautiful mix of silvery buds and dark lightly oxidised leaves give a red-gold liquor that is sweet and fruity; and Sandakphu Black Pearl is shaped into tiny pellets or half moon pearls that yield a coppery red cup that is mild and sweet as Himalayan wild honey.
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