Tea Estates in Darjeeling

Darjeeling, now a popular hill station was originally discovered by the British as a sanatorium and was later turned into a tea plantation town. The tea industry is now the most revenue making industry in Darjeeling and Darjeeling is the highest exporter of the favored leafy flavored tea. The Tea Estates in Darjeeling were established for the most part by the British and are still permeated by a lingering colonial flavor in terms of their looks.

Verdant green slopes dotted with colorfully dressed women with sacks tied to their back plucking tea leaves make a compelling sight in itself. A thing to be noticed, at the Tea Estates in Darjeeling in India, the pluckers are always women. Belonging mostly to the local tribal population; usually whole families of these local tribal people are employed at the Tea Estates in Darjeeling in west Bengal for generations. Many of them even live within the premises of the tea gardens.

Some of the Tea Estates in Darjeeling west Bengal have been opened to the tourists as tea museums, heritage resorts, and so on. Tourists can see the tea making procedure first hand at these estates and even buy some of the export quality tea from within the factory. Since the Tea Estates in Darjeeling are made up of colonial bungalows set amidst acres of garden and forest land, they also offer marvelous stay. With a somewhat forest bungalow like feel, these bungalows were once taken by British tea estate officers and therefore come with a heavy colonial feel made up of fireplaces, bay windows and all. Some of the Tea Estates in Darjeeling are let out seasonally to tourists who are provided with all due facilities of dining, etc. To add up is the tour of the tea gardens in the accompaniment of an officer of the estate who would act as a guide.