Darjeeling Tea is one of the most exotic and finest tasting teas in the world. Darjeeling 1st flush is an extremely healthy tea. Indian officials and tea marketers use the tagline “Champagne of Tea” to market this wonderful tea all over the world.

By the way, we can find a rare variety that’s arguably leaf and bud above the rest. Known as Silver Tips Imperial, it’s only plucked by experienced pluckers from the Makaibari tea estate on clear, full-moon nights when the planets align to produce optimal harvest conditions. In 2014, it sold for the equivalent of $1,850 per kg, making it the most expensive tea ever produced in India.

Makaibari Tea estate established in 1859 is said to be both Darjeeling’s oldest tea estate and the world’s first biodynamic tea farm. Unlike most farms that rely on the earth, soil and plants to dictate their harvest, Makaibari looks towards the heavens. It adheres to the rhythm of the planets and a celestial calendar to determine just the right time to pluck its tea leaves during the picking season from March to October.

On the first clear full moon night from mid-March to May (a period known as ‘first flush’), when the oceans are at high tide and the water levels in plants decrease, Makaibari’s farmers believe that the air’s high oxygen and energy levels combine to produce a tender, smoother tea-leaf taste. And so, once the sun begins to set, the estate’s workers prepare for a unique event that’s part spiritual, part ceremonial.

Silver Tips Imperial can only be picked four to five times during the season. Before each harvest, hundreds of Makaibari Darjeeling tea workers adorned in West Bengal dresses gather on the estate’s slopes just after dusk. As men beat hand drums, women dance and chant Vedic prayers for good fortune and protection under the light of the full moon.

After 20:00 when the moon is at its brightest, some 80 to 100 specially trained tea-pickers take to the hills to quickly pluck two leaves and the bud from each Camellia sinensis plant and place them in a large woven basket strapped around their heads. If the sunlight touches the leaves, it is thought to alter the tea’s aroma and consistency, so workers must race to finish the harvest by midnight so that the plucked plants can be processed before dawn that following morning.

References

1.Original Post + More Pictures: http://www.bbc.com/travel/gallery/20180924-indias-rare-tea-picked-under-a-full-moon