Darjeeling’s cup that cheers has London worried

Snigdhendu Bhattacharya, THT, KOLKATA, 20 August 2013: Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s battle for statehood has got tea lovers in the UK worried over getting adequate supply of one of the integral parts of their breakfast table: Darjeeling tea. 

Over the last fortnight, at least three major dailies in the UK — The Telegraph, The Guardian and The Daily Mail — have carried articles expressing the concerns of tea lovers. But it’s not only the UK; major dailies in China, Australia, Pakistan and Gulf countries have also echoed the same concern. 

“Britain’s breakfast tables could be a major casualty in the battle to create a new Gorkha state in India,” Dean Nelson wrote in leading UK daily, The Telegraph, on Monday. While most of the tea estates are running despite the agitation, the UK daily has quoted GJM general secretary Roshan Giri who threatened to block supply of Darjeeling’s finest produce in order to create ‘bigger impact’. 

“Its fragrant, delicately flavoured leaves have enthralled Britain’s tea drinkers for generations, but stocks of Darjeeling tea are being threatened as India’s ethnic Gurkhas fight for a separate state in the Darjeeling hills of West Bengal,” Maseeh Rahman and Sam Jones wrote in The Guardian on August 12. 

The Guardian article also quoted Nick Gandon, the director of the UK-based Reginald Ames tea merchants and brokers, who said the action in Darjeeling would inevitably disrupt the market and lead to a rise in the price of the tea. 

The likes of Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe second flush or Oolong are among the most famous and expensive tea available around the globe. 

It was the British who introduced tea plantation in Darjeeling with stolen seeds from China. More than six decades since independence and the US still remains one of the biggest markets for the 10 million kg of Darjeeling tea produced each year. 

Transport of tea from the gardens and factories have come to a complete halt since August 3. While the tea gardens in the hills are open, Gorkhaland agitators have refused to let the produce move out of all the 74 operational gardens and factories. Further, the factories are facing a fuel crunch. This is added to the prospect of more trouble as GJM prepares for an economic blockade of the hills. 

SS Bagaria, chairman of Darjeeling Tea Association, said UK residents might feel the actual shortage about a month later. “Stockists and retailers in London still have stock for about a month. Even though dispensing tea from the gardens and factories have come to a halt, there is still a month’s stock in Kolkata,” he said. 

While a person living in the UK told Hindustan Times on Tuesday that Darjeeling produces — in all its varieties — are still available in the retail tea shops, The Telegraph, UK, expressed concerns in another article that the price of Darjeeling tea might raise in the UK should agitations continue for some time more.