snip


M I'm told that 10 times more "Darjeeling" is sold than produced. Most
likely true.

N. Most likely untrue. Unfortunately the comprehensive International Tea
Committee "Green Book" of tea statistics does not show Darjeeling as a
separate producing area and neither does next best source F O Licht's
"World Tea Markets Monthly" (curious - but the Indians have always been
coy about Darjeeling production) however it is generally agreed that
current production is between 10,000 and 11,500 tonnes annually. Ten
times this amount means selling at least 100,000 tonnes of "faux
Darjeeling" - around 7% of all the tea exported for world trade whereas
Darjeeling is virtually absent from sale in the really big tea drinking
countries. In the days when tea statistics were my job it was reckoned
that the dilution was around 2 to 3x at most.

I spoke figuratively, thus sloppily. More correct to say that far more teas are sold under the name "Darjeeling" than are grown in Darjeeling itself, as Nigel kindly explained.

M The customer will always be supplied.

N. Correct. Darjeeling is mostly cut/diluted/blended with the very
similar orthodox teas from Nepal - grown on the other side of the same
mountains, and made by tea makers trained in Darjeeling. Nepali
orthodoxes can be very good but "the customer" in his ignorance prefers an
expensive bad Darjeeling to a good inexpensive Nepali - as ever brand
loyalty overcomes sensory discrimination. Hence the use of the Nepal
grown teas (just a mule trek away) for cutting the Darjeelings. To be
fair to the Darjeeling producers I should point out that most of this
adulteration occurs in Calcutta rather than in Darjeeling itself.

I should say that I have enjoyed Temi very much. Unfortunately I haven't tried a true Nepali tea, but see no reason why it can't be excellent. I don't *think* I'm guilty of preferring the expensive bad to the less expensive good, at least in this case.

It is worth noting that Darjeeling tea marks 'Darjeeling' and 'Darjeeling
logo' are now legally protected for Geographical Identity. In order to
protect as GI, the Tea Board of India registered the marks in various
countries, including the United States, Canada, Japan, Egypt, and the
United Kingdom and some other European countries, as a trade mark/CTM. UK
Trade Registry granted registration of the word 'Darjeeling' as of 30
March 1998 under the UK Trade Marks Act 1994. The United States has also
accepted the application of the Tea Board for the registration of
'Darjeeling' as a CTM in October 2002. Misuse is monitored by Compumark
and policed by Tea Board of India.

My question: Would all the formality of registered marks in Western Europe and in North America be taken as seriously in India proper? Also, from what you write, I gather that putting in some non-Darjeeling to "cut" the Darjeeling and thus the cost is the rule; selling whole batches under the name Darjeeling that were not in fact grown in Darjeeling is far rarer. Is that it?

As always, thanks Nigel.

Michael