Famed Darjeeling tea falls on hard times as yields plummet

An unfavourable brew of ageing bushes with falling yields and a shortage of labour are key reasons behind the decline in production.

- Debarshi Dasgupta

It accounts for less than half a per cent of India's total tea production. But this limited crop of Darjeeling tea, grown in the picturesque Eastern Himalayas in the state of West Bengal, has devoted lovers across the world who prize its fruity, distinctive muscatel flavour. American author Jeff Koehler describes the tea in his book, Darjeeling, as "the indisputable jewel on India's tea-producing crown, its most iconic brew, and the flag-bearer of Indian teas abroad".

One of the finest varieties of this tea - Silver Tips White Imperial Full Moon, which is plucked on full moon nights to give it a purported "cosmic edge" - can command prices as high as US$5,000 (S$6,670) per kg.

But this cherished beverage - hailed as the "champagne of teas" - has fallen on hard times. Production has plummeted consistently in recent years, from 14.49 million kg in 1990 to 5.6 million kg in 2024.

It is the lowest recorded figure for an industry that sprouted in the 1840s when the first tea bushes were planted in the Darjeeling district at an elevation of more than 2,100m.

The only other time production dipped lower was in 2017, when the gardens were shut for more than 100 days because of violent protests during a local campaign to create a separate state in the Gorkhaland region of West Bengal. The industry that year produced only 3.21 million kg of tea.

The reason for this decline is primarily an unfavourable brew of ageing bushes with falling yields and a shortage of labour as young workers head to cities in India and abroad for better-paying work. Climate change-induced vagaries such as erratic rainfall, frequent landslides and unpredictable long dry spells have also hit production.

All these are made worse by falling prices - a trend many blame on cheaper tea imported from adjoining Nepal that is at times sold as "Darjeeling" tea.