While I was in India, I conducted this research about top 10
Darjeeling black tea estates. The research has involved Indian seven
tea taster, Bangladeshi three tea taster, five top tea companies CEO,
ten Indian Darjeeling tea lover, ten Bangladeshi Darjeeling tea lover,
ten Indian retail tea shops owner, Ten Bangladeshi retail tea shops
owner. I asked them couple of same questions( the whole process took
almost two months, because I have my personal career not related with
tea) but here I will just put the result of top ten Darjeeling tea
estates names. I think people are more interested about the estates
name rather then the whole research result.
They selected the estates name from their minimum last ten years
drinking,
tasting, market demand etc. experiences-
P.S. The result is based on the whole research process, my personal
experience or choice has no effect on it.
TOP 10 Darjeeling black tea estates name:
1) Castleton
2) Margaret's Hope
3) Kalej valley
4) Chamong
5) Pussimbing
6) Phoobsering
7) Puttabong
8) Sungma
9) Risheehat
10) Makaibari


I am working on the Assam one right now, if you are interested- I will
post it soon.
Ripon
(Dhaka, Bangladesh)

"Ripon" wrote in message
om...
While I was in India, I conducted this research about top 10
Darjeeling black tea estates. The research has involved Indian seven
tea taster, Bangladeshi three tea taster, five top tea companies CEO,
ten Indian Darjeeling tea lover, ten Bangladeshi Darjeeling tea lover,
ten Indian retail tea shops owner, Ten Bangladeshi retail tea shops
owner. I asked them couple of same questions( the whole process took
almost two months, because I have my personal career not related with
tea) but here I will just put the result of top ten Darjeeling tea
estates names. I think people are more interested about the estates
name rather then the whole research result.
They selected the estates name from their minimum last ten years
drinking,
tasting, market demand etc. experiences-
P.S. The result is based on the whole research process, my personal
experience or choice has no effect on it.
TOP 10 Darjeeling black tea estates name:
1) Castleton
2) Margaret's Hope
3) Kalej valley
4) Chamong
5) Pussimbing
6) Phoobsering
7) Puttabong
8) Sungma
9) Risheehat
10) Makaibari


I am working on the Assam one right now, if you are interested- I will
post it soon.
Ripon
(Dhaka, Bangladesh)

Interesting list. What, do you think, were the criteria? Was it perceived
quality alone, or were things like consistency, sales volume and PQR
(price/quality ratio), also in the mix? Was conforming to a particular
style considered important?

I've tried both Castleton and Margaret's Hope a few times, and while they
were well-made teas they did not stand out as exceptional to me. OTOH, I've
had teas from Gopaldhara, Makaibari and Puttabong that I thought were
absolutely phenomenal, and Gopaldhara did not even make the list.

Regards,
Dean

Dean, Ripon, and all,

My experience with Darjeeling is pretty circumscribed, but I too was a bit
surprised that Gopaldhara was not on the list. Good questions, Dean, BTW. I
guess we need to take a peek at Ripon's original questions that generated
the list.

Michael


Dean /26/04


"Ripon" wrote in message
om...
While I was in India, I conducted this research about top 10
Darjeeling black tea estates. The research has involved Indian seven
tea taster, Bangladeshi three tea taster, five top tea companies CEO,
ten Indian Darjeeling tea lover, ten Bangladeshi Darjeeling tea lover,
ten Indian retail tea shops owner, Ten Bangladeshi retail tea shops
owner. I asked them couple of same questions( the whole process took
almost two months, because I have my personal career not related with
tea) but here I will just put the result of top ten Darjeeling tea
estates names. I think people are more interested about the estates
name rather then the whole research result.
They selected the estates name from their minimum last ten years
drinking,
tasting, market demand etc. experiences-
P.S. The result is based on the whole research process, my personal
experience or choice has no effect on it.
TOP 10 Darjeeling black tea estates name:
1) Castleton
2) Margaret's Hope
3) Kalej valley
4) Chamong
5) Pussimbing
6) Phoobsering
7) Puttabong
8) Sungma
9) Risheehat
10) Makaibari


I am working on the Assam one right now, if you are interested- I will
post it soon.
Ripon
(Dhaka, Bangladesh)

Interesting list. What, do you think, were the criteria? Was it perceived
quality alone, or were things like consistency, sales volume and PQR
(price/quality ratio), also in the mix? Was conforming to a particular
style considered important?

I've tried both Castleton and Margaret's Hope a few times, and while they
were well-made teas they did not stand out as exceptional to me. OTOH, I've
had teas from Gopaldhara, Makaibari and Puttabong that I thought were
absolutely phenomenal, and Gopaldhara did not even make the list.

Regards,
Dean

Michael Plant wrote in message ...
Dean, Ripon, and all,

My experience with Darjeeling is pretty circumscribed, but I too was a bit
surprised that Gopaldhara was not on the list. Good questions, Dean, BTW. I
guess we need to take a peek at Ripon's original questions that generated
the list.

Michael

P.S. The result is based on the whole research process, my personal
experience or choice has no effect on it.
TOP 10 Darjeeling black tea estates name:
1) Castleton
2) Margaret's Hope
3) Kalej valley
4) Chamong
5) Pussimbing
6) Phoobsering
7) Puttabong
8) Sungma
9) Risheehat
10) Makaibari

Dean/Michael:

Look at my P.S. "my personal experience or choices has no influence on
this research."

Personally, I am a big fan of Gopaldhara. I have no idea eather why it
didn't come to the list. But I do remember, I asked couple of people-
what about Gopaldhara. I didn't get enough positive responce compare
to the other estates. I am also surprised.


Ripon
(Dhaka, Bangladesh)

"Ripon" wrote in message
om...
Michael Plant wrote in message
...
Dean, Ripon, and all,

My experience with Darjeeling is pretty circumscribed, but I too was a
bit
surprised that Gopaldhara was not on the list. Good questions, Dean,
BTW. I
guess we need to take a peek at Ripon's original questions that
generated
the list.

Michael

P.S. The result is based on the whole research process, my personal
experience or choice has no effect on it.
TOP 10 Darjeeling black tea estates name:
1) Castleton
2) Margaret's Hope
3) Kalej valley
4) Chamong
5) Pussimbing
6) Phoobsering
7) Puttabong
8) Sungma
9) Risheehat
10) Makaibari

Dean/Michael:

Look at my P.S. "my personal experience or choices has no influence on
this research."

Personally, I am a big fan of Gopaldhara. I have no idea eather why it
didn't come to the list. But I do remember, I asked couple of people-
what about Gopaldhara. I didn't get enough positive responce compare
to the other estates. I am also surprised.


Ripon
(Dhaka, Bangladesh)

Ripon, I understand that you tried to be personally neutral. What I was
trying to ask is: how did your respondents choose which estates they thought
the best? Their own personal taste? The amount of tea sold? The opinions
of their customers? Ease of dealing with a particular estate, i.e., liked
their business practices, prices or terms?

My point is: you asked a wide variety of people from many areas in the tea
business, and each of them might have different standards. A tea shop owner
might say "Castleton" because the tea has a good QPR and his customers love
it. On the other hand, a wholesale buyer might choose them because his
brother-in-law works for them and sells him tea at an attractive price. A
tea taster, OTOH, might choose them because they consistently provide
high-quality tea year after year.

Now, all the above reasons are valid from the individual perspectives of the
individuals offering them. But as a tea consumer, I'm really only
interested in the tea quality and its price (and maybe ethical issues, like
Fair Trade). In my experience here in North America, Gopaldhara is at the
upper end price-wise. Very high quality, very high price. So I'll bet that
either they don't sell much relative to other estates, or they don't produce
much. Maybe most of their tea is sold on the export market, where they can
command and get their high prices. If true, they may not even appear on the
"domestic" radar.

What do you think?

Regards,
Dean

On Mon, 26 Jan 2004 20:57:06 GMT, "Dean Macinskas" wrote:

... In my experience here in North America, Gopaldhara is at the
upper end price-wise. Very high quality, very high price. So I'll bet that
either they don't sell much relative to other estates, or they don't produce
much. Maybe most of their tea is sold on the export market, where they can
command and get their high prices. If true, they may not even appear on the
"domestic" radar.

In my conversations with wholesalers in India, the bulk of domestic
consumption is in CTC teas from Assam and Nilgiri (including the
surrounding areas in Karnataka and Kerala). The average Indian consumer
wants a tea with 'good color' that brew quickly. The Darjeelings are
used in small amounts to add floral notes to the tea. On the low end
you can even find packages boldly labeled 'dust and fannings'.