The tea garden is located in the
Darjeeling district of West Bengal, in India. Spread over an area of about 437
acre and placed at an altitude of about 6,800 ft above sea level,the Happy Valley Tea Estate was established in the year 1854. It is located at a distance of about 3 km from the main town of Darjeeling. More than 1,500 people work at this place and the processing unit.
History
As it was established in the year
1854, the tea garden is one of the oldest tea estates in Darjeeling and the
factory set in this garden is also regarded as one of the highest tea factories
in the whole wide world. The garden was first initiated by an Englishman, David
Wilson, who had named the place as Wilson Tea Estate. By 1860, the tea
cultivation was started in the region of this tea garden. Later, in the year
1903, the tea garden was taken over by an Indian, Tarapada Banerjee. In 1929, he
also bought the Windsor Te Estate, located nearby and combined the two estates
and gave them the name of Happy Valley Tea Estate. Until 2007, the garden was
under the management of the following generations of Tarapada Banerjee. But
after remaining nearly closed for about four years, the garden experienced heavy
loss and was bought over by S K Bansal, of Ambotia Tea Group, in 2007. A new
factory has been put up at this place with the inclusion of modernization
process, replanting and organic farming. The estate was again reopened in 2008
and the former factory was transformed into a working museum.
The Tea
Garden
After you enter this picturesque tea
garden, you will able be able to see some beautiful sights of lush green hill
slopes. The tea production factory of this place has a slanted tin roof and is
painted with white color. The older factory which has been turned into a
working museum, displays items like a single piston slow-speed engines, shaft
machines and souvenirs related to tea.
Opening hours: The estate is open form
Tuesday to Saturday from 8am to 4 pm. There is no entry fee required but the
hiring of a guide will cost you a small amount. The workers of this place act
as a guide during their off time and their rates will vary from Rs 50 to Rs 75,
depending on the demand.
The Quality
of The Tea
Inside the factory, you will be first
taken to a huge hall where the plucked teas are kept on high wooden beds for
weathering. The garden produces different qualities of tea, with the best
quality of tea leaves coming from a single bud of two leaves. The second best quality comes from a single
bud and three leaves and so on. The supreme quality of tea produced at this
garden is known as SFTGFOP (Super Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe). The
tea of this quality is derived from the first flush or even at times from the
second flush, which is also known as Supremo. There are different variations in
the top quality of produce, like the Green tea, White tea and Black tea. The
regular quality of tea is known as the Family Mixture. Almost the entire tea
estate comprises of tea bushes that date back to 100 years or even older.
Plucking
Season
There are different plucking season
for different types of tea. From March to May is used to pluck the Green and
little bit of White Tea. June to August is the best time to pluck for Black
tea. Again Green and White Tea are plucked from September to November. During
the monsoons tea is not plucked.
Processing
From the close by room, pipes have
been brought and attached below the beds, where the tea leaves are left for
weathering. Through these pipes, hot air is pumped in during the night time,
which dries the leaves up to 65%. The adjacent room is filled with giant fans
that are used to pump the hot air inside the pipes. After the drying of the leaves, they are
taken to a large room in the lower level for further processing.
By climbing down the stairs and
getting to the room at the lower level, you will get to observe the remaining
process of the tea making. It is a glass covered area where about 110 kg of tea
leaves are brought at a time for rolling, which takes around 45 minutes. This
stage is called fermentation and is used only in case of Black Tea. For other
types of teas, this stage is skipped and directly taken to a stage where 100%
drying takes place in imported machines.
This stage is followed by cutting and
sorting. The large vibrating machines are used to separate the different
qualities of tea leaves automatically. The best quality of tea comes from the
top while the other qualities are taken out from different channels. The final
stage is packing of the tea lesves according to their quality.
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