Nepal Tea vs Darjeeling Tea: Same Hills, Different Names

The two are close enough that, according to a trade cliché quoted in our 2016 story on Germany, even knowledgeable tea lovers can struggle to tell a typical estate Darjeeling from a top-grade Guranse, Ilam, Antu Valley or Kanyam. They can, however, see the difference in price.

The border runs right through tea country. The same story notes that the Darjeeling district covers about 2,200 square kilometers and borders Nepal to the west and Sikkim to the north, with a short stretch of border with Bangladesh in the plains. Okayti, one of the Mirik gardens we buy from, lies on the Mechi river, the boundary with Nepal. The people are shared too: most workers on Darjeeling gardens such as Jungpana are Nepali.

The growing difference shows in the factory. Where Darjeeling’s estates almost all process their own leaf, Nepal’s regional factories buy leaf from farms that average less than an acre.

Our 2016 story’s verdict is that Nepal black tea is “very good indeed” but “not quite the same in taste as Darjeeling,” offering an attractive, less expensive complement except against the very best Darjeelings. Full tasting notes are in What does Nepal tea taste like?

• White tea: launching a Guranse spring white in 2017, we wrote that in the “inevitable comparison between a Darjeeling white and a Nepal white, the former scores in aroma while the latter ranks higher in the intensity of flavor,” and found the Guranse “a floral and mellow cup, with intense flavors.”
• Green tea: our 2016 story judged Nepal’s Japanese-style greens, with their extra zip and very clean taste, to be, if anything, ahead of Darjeeling’s.
• Oolong: when Frank Miller cupped Himalayan oolongs for us, he concluded that “India and Nepal oolongs are turned out using the orthodox black tea template with tweaks at the withering stage and at fermentation,” which is why they taste closer to a Darjeeling black than to a Taiwan oolong.

Our view: a good Nepal tea is no longer a cheaper stand-in but a tea in its own right. Our 2017 email to customers said the same: “Once thought of as the Darjeeling’s lesser cousin, Nepal’s gardens have, over the years, focussed on quality.” The best way to taste the difference is side by side, one Nepal spring black against one single-estate Darjeeling. See also First flush vs second flush Darjeeling. Sikkim, the small Indian state that also borders Nepal, is a third point of comparison: read Sikkim tea and the Temi tea garden.

Before roads reached the Nepal hills, leaf was smuggled across the border and sold as Darjeeling, and our 2016 story describes a smuggling trade that “continues to flourish.” Nepal leaf was close in taste, younger Nepal bushes gave brighter-looking leaf than Darjeeling’s aging ones, and blending in the cheaper tea helped keep Darjeeling profitable.

“Getting your Darjeeling tea from the market? There is a good chance you are drinking a little or more Nepal tea as well. The blending of Darjeeling & Nepal tea is an old affair.”

The scale was large. Our 2017 guide to choosing a Darjeeling repeats the often-quoted consensus that Darjeeling produced about 10,000 tonnes of tea a year while some 40,000 tonnes were sold under its name, “with much of the counterfeit and adulteration coming from Nepal.” See The Beginner’s Guide to Choosing a Darjeeling.

How the rules changed

Two things have changed this. Darjeeling became India’s first Geographical Indication in 2004, so only tea from its registered gardens may carry the name in India, and protection in the European Union, the biggest market for Darjeeling, has tightened what blends can be called. Our 2016 story on Germany notes that German packers had long sold blends of 51% Darjeeling as Darjeeling, a practice the new European rules were ending. At the same time, Nepal’s own tea has improved so much that many buyers now want it under its own name, and a “Himalayan” label built largely on Nepal tea has grown up in Germany.

The other 49% in those German blends, the story explains, could come from Sri Lanka, other Indian regions, Bangladesh or Africa. The European Union takes about half of all Darjeeling exports, with Hamburg the main shipping and processing hub. “In the era of mass smuggling, Nepalese tea was good but not great,” the writer added. “Now, a lot of it is great.”

We watched the change closely. In 2015 our founder wrote on our blog that from early 2016 all teas sold as “Darjeeling” would have to be 100% Darjeeling, “and not a blend of 51% Darjeeling with other teas that we are seeing now.” Teabox itself holds the Tea Board of India’s license to use the Darjeeling certification trademark, first issued to us in March 2015.

1. Look for an estate. A Darjeeling that names its garden and flush, such as “Okayti, first flush,” is far less likely to be a blend than one labeled only “Darjeeling.”
2. Look for the country. A good Nepal tea will say so, and usually names its district or garden: Ilam, Guranse, Kanyam, Antu Valley.
3. Check the price. A cheap “Darjeeling” with no estate on the label may well be partly Nepal tea; better to buy Nepal tea as Nepal tea.

Our own labels have always worked this way. One of our first Nepal teas, the 2014 Kanyam Black, carried its country, its garden, its flush (first, spring), its grade (SFTGFOP1) and the words “single estate” on the pack. The 2016 story on Germany found that some of the better American loose tea brands were already using the “Himalayan” name for their Nepal teas, so that word on a pack is now a clue too.