Aloha Sidman,

Yes, I meant Chang. The best I ever had was in the Hot Stimulating Cafe
down Hooker Road [the road leading from the Mall to the Gymkhana club,
LC, Governor's House..].

Bling, that rang my bell - the one and only hot stimulating cafe in
Darjeeling. I go there twice a week, but rather for the chai, a pipe
and the music (Hendrix, Dylan, The Who and the rest). BTW: Kiran is
still hanging around ;-)

Well - the Assam season has started too. We had our first day of
plucking here in the Estates and got a few thousand kgs of green leaf
for the first day effort.

I guess you're pretty lucky planters these days, I'm just back from one
of our village projects and again the same sad story, no flush, just
some of the buds have awakened, most of the plants look like they have
been freshly pruned. These days some of the estates over here produce
their teas in the range of around 5-10 kg (sic!) - a rather depressing
sight.

If you are interested in a first flush Assam CTC brew Karsten, let me know

Yessss. Let's swap some samples. As soon as I get my hands on some
decent DJ FFs I'll send you some samples from here. I'll drop you a
line later on.

Cheers,
Karsten / Darjeeling

Michael wrote:
I don't know "didi's," I know "bidis." Are they still around?
Hehehe, "didi" means big or elder sister, used for all girls or ladies
older than you.
And yes, bidis are still around, gazillons of different brands. Also my
beloved Burmese and Tamil cheroots - yum.

Best,
Karsten / Darjeeling