Sikkim Tea and the Temi Tea Garden: India’s Organic Himalayan Tea

For most of its history Temi was the state’s only tea garden, so when people say “Sikkim tea” or “Temi tea,” they usually mean the same thing. As late as 2020 we described Temi as a garden that, until recently, “was known to be the only tea garden in all of Sikkim.” Our own tea sleeves still called it the “only tea plantation in Sikkim” in 2022, a line that small newer gardens such as Bermiok have since made out of date.

Sikkim sits directly north of Darjeeling, and its gardens share the same Himalayan weather: cool nights, misty mornings and slow growth that builds aroma in the leaf. The old Tea 101 post called Temi’s teas “well-known for their rich aroma and delicate taste.”

Temi lies about 116 km from our tasting and packing facility in Siliguri, which is why its teas reach us within days of being made. Our 2025 summer lot, for example, was picked and made on 10 and 11 July and reached us on 12 July. We buy from the garden directly, and have done since at least November 2014.

The people who work Sikkim’s gardens come largely from the Lepcha and Bhutia communities. Every year they celebrate Pang Lhabsol, Sikkim’s most auspicious festival, which honors Mount Kanchenjunga as a guardian deity; many believe it also protects the remote plantations that grow beneath it. Lepchas believe their earliest ancestors were created from the snows on Kanchenjunga’s peak.

SikkimTeabox Masterclass · short

To see how Sikkim fits alongside Assam, Darjeeling, the Nilgiris and India’s smaller regions, start with our guide to Indian tea regions, or go back to Indian tea: the complete guide.

Temi made the switch in April 2005, following the guidelines of the Institute of Marketology (IMO) of Switzerland. Conversion is not instant. Our 2013 estate notes record that Temi was fully organic by April 2008, three years after it began.

Sikkim was named the world’s first organic state and received the UN Future Policy Gold Award in 2018, an honor sometimes called the “Oscar for best policies.” As we wrote at the time, when a whole state is organic, the soil around the garden is cared for too, not just the tea bushes.

Sikkim’s newer gardens follow the same rule: Bermiok, the boutique garden in the highlands of Sikkim, says it is certified by the state’s Sikkim Organic Mission and recognized by the Tea Board.

What the label on your tea says

On a label, “organic” is a legal claim that needs a certificate, and each lot is certified on its own. Our Sikkim Temi Summer Chinary Black is listed as USDA Organic, and it also carries the Ethical Tea Partnership mark. Our 2022 sleeve for the summer muscatel lot called Temi “certified Organic and a laurelled tea estate.”

We make no organic claim for a lot unless its own certificate says so, which is why the spring tea is not labeled organic here. To understand what the different labels mean, read Tea certifications explained.

Our Masterclass sums up the style: Sikkim teas are “neither as brisk as Assam nor as light as Darjeeling,” a balance of strength and aroma. The body comes from the way Temi makes its tea. When we tasted the spring 2024 teas, our team noted that “Temi from Sikkim impressed us with its traditional manufacturing techniques, producing a cup with a substantial body, distinct from typical Spring Darjeeling.”

Like Darjeeling, Temi changes with the season. Our current summer tea is made from Chinary bushes (the small-leafed China variety of the tea plant) and graded FTGFOP1, a whole-leaf grade with plenty of tips (see Tea grades explained). Temi also makes an orthodox dust, a reminder that dust is not only a CTC grade. Temi grows clonal bushes too: our 2018 spring lot was an FTGFOP clonal, and in 2015 we wrote about the organic clonal teas from Temi. These notes come from our tasting team’s product notes:

Our team describes the summer tea in layers: a top note of stone fruit, a heart of peach and a base of red berries. The 2022 sleeve gave the taster’s notes as an aroma of nectarines, apricot and cedar, and a medium-bodied, fruity palate with a hint of musk.

Some years, Temi’s summer tea has been sold as a muscatel, the grape-like character prized in Darjeeling’s summer teas; in 2021 we called it a “rare Temi Summer Muscatel,” medium-bodied and “beaming with fruity aromas.” Our Darjeeling brief goes further: Temi “can compete with Darjeeling in this exclusive field of Muscatels,” with “vibrant notes of blackcurrants and peach” alongside white almonds and fragrant cedar. More on the seasons in What is first flush tea? and Second flush tea and muscatel, and on the bush in Chinary, Assam and clonal tea plants.

Our 2018 spring lot was invoiced on 4 April 2018, and that year’s summer lot reached us on 11 June. The 2022 summer lot was picked on 4 July 2022, and the 2025 summer lot was picked and made on 10 and 11 July 2025, reaching our facility on 12 July. The current spring lot arrived with us on 29 April 2024.

So Temi’s summer tea tends to come a little later than Darjeeling’s, whose second flush runs from late May into June. Its spring tea also comes toward the end of Darjeeling’s first flush, which runs from March to mid-April. On the dates we have, a Temi spring tea reaches our tasting bench as the last spring Darjeelings do, and the summer tea arrives once Darjeeling’s short muscatel window has closed.

Sikkim makes autumn teas too: we offered an autumn black from Bermiok in 2017, and our tasters sampled fresh autumn cups there in November 2021. That autumn trip took our team across Darjeeling and Sikkim. Autumn teas are covered in Autumn flush tea; for the whole tea year, see Seasons of tea.

The two are neighbors with a shared history: it was the ruler of Sikkim who granted Darjeeling to the British in 1835, and the planter who built Temi came from Darjeeling.

The difference shows in the cup more than on the map. Our 2013 notes on a Temi second flush said it “represents the traditional second flush teas of Darjeeling but with an added unique taste that can make tea connoisseurs clearly discern it as a Temi tea,” with “a clean cup and a sweet after taste.” The spring tea shows it too: in 2024 our tasters found Temi’s spring cup more substantial than a typical spring Darjeeling.

If you like a summer Darjeeling, you will very likely enjoy Temi, and the other way round. Tasting them side by side is the best way to learn the difference: a Temi summer tea next to a Darjeeling muscatel from the same season. Our Darjeeling tea guide covers the hills next door, and Nepal tea covers the gardens on Darjeeling’s other side.

These are the same settings we use for Darjeeling of the same flush, because Temi’s teas are made in the same orthodox way from similar bushes. The spring leaf is young and tender, so it gets slightly cooler water and a shorter steep. The summer leaf is fuller and darker, and takes a little more heat and time to open up its peach and musk.

1. Heat fresh water and let it cool from the boil to the right temperature (185–195°F for spring tea, 195–203°F for summer tea).
2. Measure the leaf: about 2 to 2.5 g per 250 ml cup.
3. Steep for 3 to 4 minutes (spring) or 3 to 5 minutes (summer), then strain all the liquor off the leaf.
4. Taste it plain first. Our product notes suggest honey if you like it sweeter; the spring tea can also take a little lemon or sugar.

Temi’s summer tea is an evening tea in our notes, good on its own or with a cheese sandwich, buttered toast, croissants or pancakes. Store the leaf airtight, away from light, heat, moisture and strong smells. For every type and flush, see How to brew loose leaf tea.