Nilgiri Kairbetta First Flush6NKF Harvest: January 2024
Origin: India / Nilgiri / Kairbetta
Height: 1980 m.a.s.l
Tea plant varietal: Craigmore 6017 Clonal
An excellent, fresh and tangy spring tea from the blue Nilgiri mountains, processed in the style of Darjeeling First Flush. Very beautiful twisted leaf. A really good example for most careful work in cultivation and crafting, in an area which is actually known for its simple every-day teas.Nilgiri, also known as the Blue Mountains, is the name of a mountain chain in the Southwest of India, at the border between the federal states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. In the district of The Nilgiris in the far West of Tamil Nadu, varietals cross-bred between Assam- and Chinese tea plants were planted and the tea has been exported since 1854. Most of the Nilgiri black teas are processed into simple qualities of fully oxidised black teas, some of them, however, also as briefly oxidised First Flushes, similar to the highland teas from Darjeeling.
Category:
First Flush Darjeeling is renowned for its highland black teas. The district of Darjeeling is situated on the slopes of the Himalaya, in the north of the Indian federal state of West-Bengal. The British began to plant tea bushes in 1856 from seeds they had smuggled out of China. In the west, the highland teas from Darjeeling were for a long time considered the best black teas. There are three main pluckings every year in Darjeeling, but for simple teas there are harvest in between. In northern regions of India, like Dooars or Sikkim, but also in Nepal and south-indian Nilgiri, black teas are processed the same way as a Darjeeling.First Flushes, the first harvest of the year, is plucked in spring (February/March) and only briefly oxidized. Because of this, the tea is much greener than other black teas. Contrary to Oolong, where only PARTS of the leaves are oxidised, these teas are BRIEFLY oxidised in the entire leaf. Darjeeling First Flushes are lively-fresh and fruity-sweet.
