This black tea comes from the Marionbarie Tea Estate, a garden in the Terai lowlands at the foothills of Darjeeling, in the Dooars belt of north Bengal. The land runs up against the Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary, and elephants, leopards and deer move through the surrounding forest. Planted in 1901 and set at roughly 900 feet, the estate covers 300 hectares and still makes tea by the orthodox method rather than the faster CTC style more common to the region.
In the cup it's malty, with a thread of dried fruit running through, smooth and thick-bodied, with a balanced, complex flavour that lingers. It takes milk well, which suits its medium body, and the caffeine sits in the moderate-to-high range, roughly 30 to 60mg a cup depending on how long you steep it. Like other black teas, it has long been drunk as a pick-me-up, and some drinkers reach for it for its antioxidant content or to settle digestion, though none of that is the reason to brew a pot. Boil water, add a teaspoon of leaf, and let it steep for three to five minutes — longer for a stronger cup, shorter if you want it lighter. Strain and drink as is, or add milk and sugar to taste.
Jayshree Tea and Industries took over the garden in 2006 and put money into irrigation and a factory upgrade, which lifted both output and quality. Workers on the estate get housing, rations, healthcare and protective clothing, and the management runs games, sports and cultural events as part of a broader push on social welfare. Given its position next to the wildlife sanctuary, the garden also runs staff seminars on protecting the flora and fauna around it, and says it works to preserve the surrounding habitat rather than encroach on it.
