Premium 2024 First Flush : TEMI

Simply put...

This 2024 First Flush from the TEMI tea estate in the organic state of Sikkim offers a delicious light & zesty cup - a true taste of early season in this part of the Himalayas

As described by our great friend Rajah Banerjee who is the brand ambassador for 'TEMI is a gem of the Himalayas because of its unique terroir and the extraordinary spirituality that exudes'

In more depth...

Tea Name : Premium 2024 First Flush

Tea Maker : Sapana Gurung, Shanti Rai, Deoraj Subba, Pratik Gautam

Origin Temi Tea Estate Sikkim, India, 177.4 Hectares

Harvest Date Spring 2024 [April]

Cultivar : C.Sinensis, sinensis (China Bush)

Plucking standard Two leaves and one bud 

Processing : Orthodox  (Withered, rolled, oxidised and fired)

Approach to land : 100% certified organic standard

Experience : Delicious light & zesty cup 

How to prepare this tea [Western Style]...

Amount of tea per cup (200 ml): 5g (one tea caddy spoon)

Temperature of water: 95℃ / 185℉ (boil kettle, cool for 20 seconds)

Infusion time: 2-4 minutes (or as desired)

Number of infusions: 2

How to enjoy: No milk, no sugar

Tales of the Tea Trade : TEMI

Michelle : As you will know if you have read our blog : the beginning or watched our video describing this part of our lives you will know what a key part Rajah plays in our life in tea.  Rajah Banerjee's pioneering activities in global tea have been and continue to be the inspiration for many of the Darjeeling Estates who follow the paradigm of sustainability and ethics set out in the early days at Makaibari.  Temi tea is a 'one off' in the neighbouring state of Sikkim and was certified organic over a decade ago.  In 2017 Rajah was invited to be the brand ambassador for TEMI and part of the work that has paved the way for Sikkim to be the first organic state in India.  Here our great friend Rajah shares some background with us : 

...first a short background : Not very long ago,  the last chogyal (King) of Sikkim welcomed whole-heartedly his neighbours (Tibetan refugees fleeing the Chinese invasion, displaced along the silk route) He offered them home and provided them employment by converting 440 acres of land into a tea plantation.

At home from boarding school on an Easter break my father asked me to cart a convoy of CHOGYAL's [Sikkim King] trucks to Temi with selected Darjeeling plants.  A journey over steep mountain terrain on rough tracks 100kms took me all of 16 hours when it should normally have taken 8.  It was a thrill to deliver the truckloads of saplings without a single mortality in 1965.  A handsome reward awaited me when my father sent me to visit my French classmates in Paris the next term break - my first of many trips abroad.  Little did I realise that the plants would one day play such an important role in my life 50 years later.  

TEMI is a gem of the Himalayas because of its unique terroir and the extraordinary spirituality that exudes, from the surrounding premier Buddhist pilgrim centres of Tasha Ding, Ravangla and Rumtek this makes every cup of TEMI a libation.  I am delighted to be blessed by this association.  The cooperative is ideally meshed with the psyche of the local villagers traditionally steeped in championing 'Community first' The rest of Indian villages would do well to take a 'two leaves and a bud' out of the TEMI book of holistic living.  Its already a model of futuristic global rural lifestyles'