World Famous KANGRA TEA of Palampur I Plucking to Processing to Tasting @ TEA CAPITAL of North India

The tea capital of North India, the story of Kangra Tea We have come to know about Vah Tea Estate. Here we will meet the 4th generation tree planter Surya And will know the story of Kangra Tea in his own words So this is our Vah Tea Estate The tea that grows in Palampur and Kangra Valley Came in because of the Britishers They came to India and traded with China. And from there they were buying tea and sending it to Europe. Instead of that, they were selling opium. The Chinese emperor halted that trade. And that is when the British entered China. And there was a gentleman named Robert Fortune. Robert Fortune went and smuggled tea bushes and technology into India. The bushes he brought were called Camellia sinensis. Or what we call the Chinese variety or Chinese Jat That plant was commonly cultivated in the Dajling region, the Himachal region, and the Uttarakhand region. The other plant that we obtain in India is Camellia assamica. What was found in Assam But history tells us that the Indians did not know how to make tea at that time. What we have learned is from the British. Due to the Chinese who smuggled tea from China Tea arrived in Himachal or the Kangra Valley in the early 1850s. When the British arrived on this side They found a suitable area to grow tea. And they started the plantations Sadly, in 1905 there was a massive earthquake. Due to which the British left this area And that is why Kangra tea is compared to Darjeeling, Assam, or Nilgiris. Was not so popular However, there are still many planters here. Including us who are striving to revive the glory and significance of this area Our plantation dates back to 1857. It was planted by the British. However, after the earthquake They handed over this plantation to a gentleman called Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan. And his father Muhammad Hayat Khan Who were from a place which is now in Pakistan called Wah And they have named this tea estate Wah Tea Estate. Wah Tajwala Wah Tajwala is not here Wah comes from a place in Pakistan. It is still there He had named this tea estate. But when there was a partition in 1947 At that time they had to leave. Or they were forced to leave And then they left this The government took over this. And then in 1953, my great-grandfather bought this tea estate. From a public auction Our family is into tea all over the country. But when the tea estates were divided from my grandfather's generation And this came under my grandfather's Since then, we have been operating the tea estate. Wah Tea Estate is the largest plantation in the Kangra Valley. It covers 526 acres. Also, for the past 10 years, we have not applied any pesticides or herbicides. I won't say we are organic certified. But we are working towards getting there. The target of the plantation is to manufacture approximately 200,000 kilograms of tea. Depending on the weather Sometimes it is 1.5 lakh, sometimes less than 1.5 lakh Sometimes it is 175–180 And the tea we make is the orthodox variety. Which you preferably drink without milk and sugar Plucking is the most important aspect of tea production. In plucking, we have to pluck selectively. So this dhai patta that you see This is what we need to pick We don't pull out the entire bush Dhai patta is always the new leaf. With this, your finest quality tea is made. And by manually plucking, you can selectively pick You don't pluck everything Machines have arrived. What do the machines do? They will pick everything many times. But we only need this one leaf The new leaf With that, your quality is made. Tea estates are always planted on sloping lands. Because we don't want stagnant water So when it rains The bush will take as much water as it needs. And the rest should follow naturally And the trees that you see The trees are for shade. Just as people use umbrellas in summer This naturally serves as a shade for our tea bushes. So they make a level and do the plucking. Yes. So this is what we call a plucking table. If you see the leaves that they have plucked They are only picking the new leaves. Their hand won't go down The reason is that the new leaves emerge Also, the second reason is that They are not having to bend. The more you bend up and down The lower the efficiency And they will not be able to pluck So there are two important things One is that by having a table It is easy to identify them. The second point is that the back pressure is lower. Because you're not bending too much Once we arrive at the factory after the picking We decide what tea is being made. Black tea or green tea The tea we make in Himachal We call it orthodox. Tea was traditionally made in the orthodox way. CTC The full form of CTC is Cost to Company. Crush, Tear, Curl This is generally the milk tea that is hard. The orthodox tea we drink is usually very light. More flavorful And when the British began making tea They used to prepare tea in the orthodox style. What technology and knowledge did they steal from China? And brought it to India Now when they started manufacturing They were primarily manufacturing tea destined for Europe. But when demand in Europe was saturated Tea was being made more. And there was more supply and less demand So then they started selling tea in India. And then To begin with, how to make tea for Indians They started with the energy drink. Which we call Red Bull At that time, they were serving energy drinks as tea. For free If you ask your grandfathers If you ask at the stations They used to give away tea for free. At that time, the tea that was distributed Was this an orthodox variety? Which was made without milk But some housewife Used to grind it and add spices to it And that is how tea came to India Or masala tea or milk tea But in Himachal or Kangra We only make non-dairy teas You can add milk, but usually just a teaspoon of milk. What is the British way of drinking? But milk tea is not made here When the leaves come inside We decide whether to make green tea or black tea The leaves are the same. With the manufacturing style we differentiate Between green and black And the difference is just oxidation. If I explain oxidation If you take an apple and cut it And leave it outside Over time, it turns brown. That is due to oxygen. The leaves are the same. You break the leaves and it releases oxygen. In green tea, we have to stop oxygen. That is why we refer to green tea as un-oxidized tea. And black tea is fully oxidized. The braking system is hot air. So in the olden days We used to do it with a kadhai. And the first process was We bring the leaves and directly Heat the kadhai. It was done with fire earlier, but now it is electric. And we rotate the leaves Pan-roasted We call it roasting or pan roasting. But this is the traditional old Chinese way of making tea. In Himachal there are still a lot of people. Who can make tea at home? So we also make a small batch. Which we call handcrafted green tea You can't produce more than 15-20 kg per day. It is not a very large amount. You can call it small batch or artisanal. But we do a small batch So the entire process is done by hand You bring the leaves here and rotate it. But when we produce it in large quantities We have a large machine. Which is the panner or the roaster? But this is basically This is a large-capacity roaster. Below this there is Heat And we put fresh leaves in it And it rotates So at that rate of 20 kg per day We can handle thousands of kilograms. So this is step 1 for green tea Which we call panning or roasting And with all this, all we are doing is We are halting the oxidation for the next step. The first step of black tea is in that other room. So our estate is divided into 40 pockets. So some are here Some are 20 minutes away. So the trucks go from there. With the leaves and bring the containers The reason we use containers is that The heat in it won't get heated. The air is escaping from the sides And then this goes to the withering trough Right now we are making black tea. So this goes to the withering trough So this is the first step of black tea. As the fresh leaves come As I said, black tea is fully oxidized. The processing time of black tea is About 24 hours Processing of green tea Ends in 12–18 hours The reason we spread black tea here Because we are removing the moisture In green tea, you remove it from the heat In black tea slowly Over time within 14 to 18 hours We will remove the moisture. From 100 kg of leaves, we make only 25 kilograms of tea 75% weight of the leaves Water or moisture And in this process we are removing the moisture. Slowly The cool air you are feeling We are not adding cold air. But the moisture we are removing Is that cool air which you are feeling? The reason we do this Because for the next step Next step, we will do rolling. Where you will see the machines moving around If you have more moisture Then the leaves will stick. Like laddoos And if there is less moisture, it will be crisp like papad. So as soon as you apply pressure, it will break. So we don't want either More moisture or less moisture So ideally we have to remove 60-65% moisture at this stage So the first step of black tea Is called withering So this is our second step Which is referred to as rolling Basically, this is the second step for both green tea and black tea. Green tea comes from your panning machine. Black tea comes from your withering room. Loading happens from the top And as you can see The plate rotates like this. And there is a pressure arm from the top So we apply pressure using the pressure arm. Will you apply some pressure? So if you see here He will just lower the arm. And the pressure comes Depending on the quality of the leaf We decide how long the rolling will take. And how much shaping will we do Pressure will come like this What is the objective of rolling? Two things are accomplished. One is shaping And the second is bruising of the skin For the next step If you don't perform rolling before oxidation Then there will be no transformation. So basically it's just Skin bruising and discoloration For the next step Loose leaf tea You will always see that it twists well. And the shaping takes place in this machine We are not cutting or chopping. We are not trying to make murky tea. We are trying to make a long leaf. Which is referred to as loose leaf or whole leaf? The process runs anywhere Between thirty minutes and fifty minutes It depends on the leaf. If the leaf is good Then it's done in half an hour. If it's coarse picking Then we have to apply more pressure. In that So in this system We left it open for 15 minutes. Then touched it and opened it Then I applied more pressure, medium hard. Then opened it And applied more pressure in the hard part In the same way, we have to do shaping. So that the leaf remains intact and does not break But if you see Maker's Belfast Ireland It has the number 1437. And this company was also known That they were manufacturing colossal propellers So it was a very old British manufacturing company. Which was making a lot of different machines One of them was the tea roller. So even now We operate these machines. When it's off season All of these get opened And its maintenance is done So the off-season is also very critical. So we feel the machine has to be ready for the season to begin. So basically the machine you saw This is just the handmade version of that. In the olden days it was done by hand Earlier they used to do it by hand on the ground. Then they came up with this machine. After that, these large machines were made. Even though it is 78 years old But earlier it was done by hand So is this operational now? Now it's operational The handmade tea that we make We do the hand rolling here. There are very small quantities And the pressure arm you saw This is the manual press. So when we do the hand rolling One person will rotate it. And the other will hold it But it's again a very laborious process. So this is our third process Which is only for black tea We call it oxidation. You are not adding anything to it After rolling We do two things. One is shaping And the other is breaking the skin If I rub it on your skin 100 times You will get bruises. Likewise, we have bruised the leaf After bruising We just lay it on the floor And fresh oxygen comes Comes into contact with the leaf And changes to black tea So this is where oxidation is taking place. A green leaf is turning into black tea And when it's hot We turn on the fan. The main thing is that It becomes oxidized and turns into black tea. If you don't go through this process You won't get black tea. And the way we get to know is by smell If you smell it You will detect a distinct smell And this happens Due to the oxygen First you smell the leaf. Then the smell completely changes And it gets ready Now what is critical When this scent is released You have to capture it That means you have to move on to the next step. If you leave it The smell and release Will go into the air If you pick it up earlier The flavor won't develop So the main thing is the timing. And as soon as it finishes We proceed to the next step, which is drying. So this is the final step This is what we call drying. The process of green tea is pan-firing. Rolling and drying Black tea is withering, rolling Oxidation or fermentation, as you saw And then drying What we are doing here is We are capturing the changes. By passing hot air Firing temperature ranges from 220 degrees 270 degrees Fahrenheit And time from top to bottom Takes 22 minutes It is a conveyor belt. The conveyor is loaded from the top. And there are 6 stages It goes back, forward, backward Forward, backward And in the 6th stage it falls down After falling down If you touch it It becomes crisp. And it's hot The humidity was 75%. Now we have reduced it to 2%. So the tea is ready. But it has to be sized For the market After this, we will go to another room. Where will we perform the sorting? So basically after drying We come to sorting Where we have the industry sizes The first grade I told you about is SFTG FOP1, which is super fine Whole leaf tea Second grade, we call it broken. Third grade is fannings Fourth grade is over. Fannings or dust is what goes into a regular tea bag. Which is a rectangular tea bag? These two grades go into it And these days you will see These new pyramid tea bags Which are more expensive? The reason is that tea goes into it. So the highest quality is always the first grade. Or the first size, which we call whole leaf or loose leaf And then, accordingly, all of this comes together. And then through these sorting machines It is divided into four sizes. So the tea is poured from here. And then It goes through the conveyor. And they are all chalnis Each chalni has a different size. There are about 7 or 8 chalnis. Through which we obtain these four sizes So sorting and grading Sorting and grading It was done by hand earlier. Now it is more mechanized. White tea is the one that is very soft. In the beginning We call it Baimudan. It is in Chinese style. It's just two leaves in a bud. Or one leaf in a bud We sun-dry it. Then take it out and dry it So its processing is the least But the most important thing about this is the plucking. It has to be just the newest leaf. Which comes out You won't be able to make this tea from old or bad leaves. And when we taste, I will show you The color is very pale white Very light-colored So this is how we pack and dispatch. When quantities go At one time, the dispatch is about 10 tonnes. So all this tea will be ready as soon as it is packed. And then the truck will go to Calcutta. In paper sacks, our first grade goes Which is the whole leaf? And then 2-3 more grades come And then it gets traded as lots It is auctioned there. We don't sell it at auctions, but yes. The tea auction is very famous in Calcutta. Plus it is sold privately There are many varieties. These are ours Unflavored teas What is the main part of the business? So black tea, green tea Handmade, the one I showed you Oolong Oolong is semi-oxidized. First flush. I will tell you about the flush. And white peonies The white tea After that After making black and green tea Then we add flavors Flavors you can add with flowers Leaves Or even natural oils Food-grade oils Like mint oil It provides stability. If you Use only leaves Sometimes there is variation. For stability we use Food-grade or naturally extracted oils It is not Synthetic flavor or artificial Natural-like Peppermint oil We use it in the tea. Usually when we taste We will taste When we are tasting black tea Five identical types of black teas Like lots are made Lot 1, Lot 2, Lot 3, Lot 4 We will taste those lots. Then we will tell What was good and what was not It's not that we make very good teas every day. Sometimes the weather is bad. It's cloudy now. So the weather has changed. So what are the differences? As I was saying There are three things we look at. One is the dry appearance The second thing we look at The smell So this is what you call the infusion. If you smell this And you smell the green tea This will smell like tea. This will smell like henna And if you see the colors If I show you the colors This is greener And this is coppery This is reddish. This is due to oxidation. Which we do in the process So this is good Yes But that is precisely why in tea We call it four flushes. First flush, second flush, monsoon flush, autumn flush First flush is the first budding. So the tea season It is April to October in Himachal. Due to weather Ideal growing conditions 15 degrees to 30 degrees As soon as it gets cold The bush is going to hibernate. What that means is that there is no new leaf. And what we want to pick is only the new leaf. After the hibernation The first flush Starting from March 15 So that's from a very well-rested bush. Because you have not plucked the leaves So it is well rested It is healthy. Its natural qualities What we refer to as polyphenols and catechins They develop further Antioxidants That first flush is always of much higher quality. And it is sold at a premium As soon as summer comes Bushes get tired Because they are not receiving water and nutrition So they get tired Then comes the second flush Second flush occurs just before the summer flush. Which is right now We are just entering the summer flush. Then comes the monsoon flush Which is the monsoon flush? If you pluck a bush today Today being Friday Usually if the weather conditions are right It gives you leaves in 7 days That is what we call the plucking cycle. If it rains heavily Or the monsoon comes Sometimes it takes 5 days. Or 6 days Then you need to pluck faster. Now it comes into the matter. That you have enough people or labor Who can pick it in time? And that is where quality matters. Because ideally, the tea is made from two leaves and a bud. If you see on any packaging You will always see two leaves and a bud. So the finest teas are made from Komal Patti. So the first flush tea, when you taste it You will see the difference In flavor as well as in appearance So if you see it's more greenish Compared to And that is the natural quality of the season So what we call a flush It is not something we can control. It is from nature And If you talk about Darjeeling or Himachal The first flush is always the best. And sold as a premium Then we have green teas Two varieties we make One is the machine green tea Which is the standard green tea, and then there is a handmade one. When you taste them, you will see the difference. White Peony And Oolong White Peony is the white tea which is made in the Baimudan style So it's the open two, two and a half leaves. And then the Oolong is semi-fermented. So between black tea and green tea We control the fermentation or oxidation To make an Oolong tea After that, we add flavors. As I said, you can add flavors in any way. So here you will taste, in black tea we have Rose tea, Earl Grey tea And this is our take on the Masala Chai So it's a version where you don't have to add milk and sugar. It has a very light flavor. But you will get the flavor of all the masalas And then on the other side We have all the green teas. So recently because of So much thing in Immunity and all this We have launched a new health range. Immunity that has turmeric Ginger, pepper Tranquility which has satavari Blue cornmeal Hibiscus Vitality with Ashwagandha Moringa Detox with rock salt So when you taste it, there will be some Aftertaste of salt Then we have Kashmiri Kava, Tulsi Chamomile, Lemongrass, and Mint So these are ours Flavored teas And then those are the pure teas. So come, we will taste Generally when we taste We usually pick up the cup and taste it. But now because of Covid We will try to do it a little more hygienically. So what we We will start with the black tea. So I will give you Some more When we taste Then we usually spit it out The reason given is that you are inhaling oxygen. Because of which the flavor doesn't come out If you see in the olden times They used to When they used to drink tea from the plate They used to do it like this So it is said that the flavor comes out from the oxygen. So it is not wrong It is socially awkward. But If you want to taste, then you have to do it. You can try it. It is good Now you taste the black tea That was the first flush. Now you will see that this will be a bit stronger than that. So in black tea This is the first flush black tea. And this is the black tea from the end of the first flush. This is a bit stronger That happens naturally Due to the weather The first sip of black tea you taste And this black tea that you taste What flavors do you look for in it? In this, we always look for a little sweetness. A little greenish This is a bit stronger The body If you look at the color This one is lighter, and this one is darker. That happens because of the Due to the weather conditions It naturally darkens Then comes autumn The autumn that comes towards the end That naturally becomes lighter And then we can taste You can taste these two. So you will come to understand the difference And this is the regular green tea. This was the handmade The one I tasted This is the regular green tea that is made by the machine. So let's see What do you taste? It has the same Vegetable flavors Yes Because we make it by hand As I showed you the kadhai You'll get a little fiery taste. Because it is made directly from the fire It is not fire but heat. This is because it is produced in large quantities. So it becomes lighter This is lighter in color compared to the other. This is milder. Quality-wise, this is much better. But that happens that You can make 50 kg or 100 kg Because it requires a lot of work If you notice the color difference It is much lighter. The color of the peony That's why they call it the white peony. It is very mild. Yes So white teas are always very mild. Have you ever thought of Food pairing with tea A lot of people do it Eventually, at the tea room, we would like to do it. But yes, it is. There are people who are called sommeliers. They are doing tea and food pairings. These days, they make tea cocktails. These days, a lot happens with tea. There is a chef. He has made this. Cubes And he puts it in the cocktails. Very interesting A lot of things are happening with tea. Definitely, I think Tea is evolving a great deal. Not only those who sit at home and drink People are drinking a lot. That's why we have so many flavors Traditionally, this was the tea. Then people started Liking mint Tea can easily have any flavor. We call it hygroscopy. You can add that flavor to tea. That's why we have about 10 here. And we do another 20–25 flavors Which one is your favorite? I like plain teas. That's what we do. But in the flavors I like, the Moroccan mint Moroccan mint What kind of tea is this? This is with green tea What should be the exact time? To brew the tea We usually call it green tea. 2 to 3 minutes And the water temperature is about 85 degrees. Black tea We say 90 to 95 degrees The water should be a little warm. And brewing time is between 3 to 5 minutes. But again, most of the brewing is very personal. You like it strong You like it light There are many people who drink light tea. There are some who like it strong But our tea Is everything to be had without milk and sugar? And you don't boil it in a kadhai. We steep or brew it So you boil the water and remove it. Then you add the tea and close it. Keep it for 2 to 3 minutes or 3 to 5 minutes Strain it, then drink the tea. It has a pleasant aroma. It has a refreshing flavor. That's why I like it—it's refreshing. The aftertaste of the chewing gum is also good. So that's the next launch. In our tea room We call it Kangra tea. Yes The base is all Kangra tea. After that, we have done the flavoring. But the foundation is entirely from our estate. Kangra tea has received the GI tag. Yes I think all the teas in the region have received the GI tag. But Kangra tea Recently we have also received the I think we are going to get a GI tag in Europe. India has obtained it, but we are also receiving a European GI tag. I think it was in the news last month. Yes There was already a GI tag. But that was the Indian GI tag But now at the European Commission, we are obtaining a European GI label It is difficult to say Which one did you like the most? I liked all of them. I think the fruit and flower-based Mainly Iced tea, cold tea Tea is very personal. You can't teach anyone. So whatever everyone likes Some people like it light Some people prefer it stronger. Some people like the masala. Some people like flowers. So we try to make sure that there is something for everyone. Thank you so much Thank you I'm glad you came.