How long has it been since we could predict the weather with near accuracy? For at least the last 10-15 years, it has been steadily growing more unpredictable. This climatic uncertainty is one more problem to add to a long list of troubles (shortage of labour, cheap imports, pesticide residues, low prices, high costs) in the tea world.
How long has it been since we could predict the weather with near accuracy? For at least the last 10-15 years, it has been steadily growing more unpredictable. This climatic uncertainty is one more problem to add to a long list of troubles (shortage of labour, cheap imports, pesticide residues, low prices, high costs) in the tea world.
Tea is a rain-fed crop and needs periods of rainfall and dry weather to “flush" or put out new shoots. Every terroir has its set weather pattern. “In the old days the rain patterns were aligned to major festivals," says Gurugram-based tea retailer Divya Puri, who grew up in Darjeeling. “It always rained before Saraswati Puja (on 14 February). Holi is in March and there are showers before that. If there is rain after Holi, it is usually accompanied by hail, which destroys the crop." In a good year in Darjeeling, the low-elevation gardens like Rohini Tea Estate and Selim Hill (home to Dorje Teas) would start plucking by early March. As the weeks progressed, gardens at higher elevations (Darjeeling’s gardens are between 2,000-7,000ft) would begin plucking, and in a short span of six weeks, the season would be complete.
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In Assam, where the cultivar is different and the terroir is flat, the rains would arrive in mid-January, with the Magh Bihu festival. A dry February would follow, and March rains would trigger the first flush. Without rain, and with rising temperatures, not only do the bushes suffer but they become more vulnerable to pest attack.
The harvest calendar, once fixed, is now changing every year. The rains were late everywhere this spring. Darjeeling didn’t receive its early season rain and first flush was pushed to end March. It was a short season, without the slow growth that allows flavours to develop and show up as a superlative tea. In Assam too, there was a drop of over 30% in crop. In Kangra, when I called in early May to ask about their prized first flush green teas, it was the same story.
Irrigation is an option but only in the plains. Vivek Lochan, whose family runs the Doke tea garden in Bihar, says they had availed the government’s irrigation scheme a couple of years ago which, this year, has proved to be invaluable. Without irrigation, the bushes cannot withstand the harsh heat.
Looking at this year’s first flush, this drop in crop is seen as nature’s way of correcting an imbalance—all over the world, there’s too much tea being made (India’s production is around 1.3 billion kilos annually) and not enough demand for it, keeping prices abysmally low. But it’s a financial loss for farmers.
The way forward is to realign with nature, make less tea but good tea. Consumers should be willing to shift their consumption patterns—seek higher quality black tea, more whole leaf teas and single origin teas; and pay a fair price for them.
TEA TAKES
Buy directly from tea farmers; many estates, like Rohini, Gopaldhara, Makaibari, Wah, Glenburn, Doke, retail online. Or choose retailers like Nathmulls, TeaCupsFull, Mittal Teas, TeaSwing that offer single origin and single estate teas.
Tea Nanny is a fortnightly series on the world of tea. Aravinda Anantharaman is a Bengaluru-based tea blogger and writer who reports on the tea industry. She posts @AravindaAnanth1