Take a sip of North-East India's indigenous teas
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The Indian tea story is dominated by the colonial creation of the plantation industry and the birth of the commodity tea industry that puts India in the top 2 of global tea producers. The more interesting stories, however, are of the lesser-known teas and tea cultures with no colonial ties at all.
Much of this is in the North-East and it makes sense when you consider the lay of the land and the proximity to Yunnan in China, the birthplace of tea. Parag Hatibarua, tea taster, educator and consultant, has been working to discover, protect and preserve the indigenous tea cultures of the North-East. In 2011, he created a tea sommelier course for the International Tea Masters Association.
As students began to arrive at Guwahati (where he lives) from across the world to learn about tea, he saw it as an opportunity to keep up his own education. “It made me dive deeper and study more," he says about how it set him off on his journey as a “tea hunter". It took him to Arunachal Pradesh, where he worked with Omak Apang of Donyi Polo tea estate to set up their speciality production (email dpteoyan789@gmail.com to place an order).
And to Manipur, where he worked with Boi Gangte and Forest Pick (Forestpick.com) to produce extraordinary wild-grown teas . Since then, he continues to explore the North-East regularly and as reward, comes to experience traditional and indigenous tea customs and tea styles, such as one in Mizoram, where he came upon tea rolled by feet. Darzo village in Mizoram is hard to reach, taking 6 hours by road from Aizawl.
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