#gjm

El problema es que me fasciné de la forma en qué tu lengua en mi boca se equivoca.

There must be a reason why tea-lovers call it “The Champagne of Teas”… Almost 6,000 yen (almost 45 €) in order to get 100 gr of a special spring harvest 2017 of Darjeeling Nurbong. 

The Japanese tea-assistant at Marriage Frères in Aoyama - posh area of Tokyo - explained to me that this Spring Darjeeling Nurbong was the only harvest of this year, the production of the Indian garden was so tiny that they didn’t receive the autumn harvest.

Why is the Darjeeling tea becoming so expensive? 

Recently the situation of Darjeeling gardens is getting worse, the Japan Times points out that the main reason of the price increase is related to ethnic disorders between the inhabitant of Darjeeling foothills - the Gorkhas - and their neighbors, the Bengali-speaking community.

“The world faces a shortage of prized Darjeeling tea because of deadly unrest in the idyllic Indian Himalayan foothills where it is grown. In the dozens of lush green plantations across the picturesque hill station, the June-August harvest season normally provides the bulk of the nearly 8 million kilos of tea sold a year — most of which goes to Europe. But with a showdown between native Gorkhas, who provide the majority of plantation workers, and the West Bengal government now 50 days old, production fell by 90 percent in June.”

(For the full article click here) 

Another source, from World Tea News, states that the situation in Darjeeling area got worse due to a worker strike in the tea farms during the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM: a political summit in order to create the separate state of Gorkhaland within India). 

During the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) led shutdown (the strike hoped to force the establishment of a separate state to be known as Gorkhaland), unwanted vegetation quickly encroached on the neatly groomed tea bushes.

(Read here the full article)

I must say that, as tea-lover, I am quite worried about this situation. But what should I do? Taken by a compulsive tea-shopping attack, I couldn’t resist and I’ve bought 100 gr of the exclusive Darjeeling, now I am counting every single drop of it and, as strongly recommended by the sale assistant, I will keep some of it for rare teas collection purpose. 

Keep tuned for the tea review!