Fill your cup with award-winning teas
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. I have always enjoyed making booklists once a year, scanning award lists for old favourites as much as new authors . Nowadays the end of the year has me making a similar list for tea.
This month, the Leafies, an international tea award organised by the UK Tea Academy in collaboration with department store Fortnum & Mason, were announced. Around 400 entries received were blind tasted by a global jury. There are four award categories: Gold, Highly Commended, Retail and Special awards.
India’s haul was 3 Golds and 5 Highly Commended, with Kolkata-based Jay Shree Tea topping the list for the most awards won by a single company: 5. Maitreyi Kandoi, whose family owns Jay Shree Tea, says that while recognition like this energises the company (it operates 22 estates across India), it is also a win for Indian tea, in particular Darjeeling. Three Darjeeling teas won at the Leafies: the Steamed and Panned Green tea (Turzum estate) and Mystic Black (Balasun estate) won the Gold, while the Moondrop (Puttabong estate) received a Highly Commended award.
The Steamed and Panned Tea won in the experimental category. It is a tea made in the monsoon and pays homage to the green tea-making traditions of Japan (steamed) and China (pan-roasted). Such innovations remind us of what can emerge from Darjeeling and why it’s so special to tea drinkers—“still the queen of the hills", as Kandoi calls it.
The Golden Tips (Greenwood estate, Assam Company) was the other Gold winner. The Highly Commended list includes Ripple Premium White Tea (Kanan Devan), Masala Chai (Khongea estate, Glenburn), an orthodox and a CTC from Mangalam estate (Jay Shree Tea). The Teas of the World awards by AVPA France (Agency for the
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