Autumn flush Darjeeling tea harvest 2011:

Autumn flush Darjeeling tea harvest 2011:
The Autumn Flush harvest is one of the most important harvest for the tea plantations in Darjeeling which is actually the 4th harvest of the year and not the 3rd harvest mistaken by many. Actually the 3rd harvest or the monsoon harvest which stretches from the month of July- October 2nd week produces huge quantities of teas but the quality is not as good as the 1st or 2nd flush as a result of which these plantations gets a very low price for their crop as compared to 1st or 2nd Flush harvests. This happens due to excess rain and humidity during the monsoons in Darjeeling.
This year the autumn flush 2011 harvest has started slightly late, the original or the peak time autumn flush teas have started coming in from the 1st week of November. We have tasted a lot of tea samples right through the month of October but all the teas harvested during October are mostly pre-autumn teas. This has happened as this year we had a prolonged monsoon season which stretched till the 3rd week of October and we also had 2 major festivals during the month of October for which the plantations were declared closed for the festive season. The climatic temperature is also a major factor for this harvest. There should be a minimum temperature difference of 9-10 degrees Celsius for day and night. The normal temperature in Darjeeling for this harvest is about 18 degrees Celsius during the day and 8-9 degrees Celsius during the night.
A perfect autumn flush tea in dry leaf state should be bright coppery/reddish in appearance. The liquor of the tea should be dark golden in color and the most important factor which should be kept in mind is that each tea from the different garden will have a distinctive aroma of its own but the basic aroma that should be present in all true autumn teas are that it should always have an identical pine like aroma or the smell of dry leafs found in the forests during the winter time.
These are the few important facts about this wonderful Darjeeling tea harvest. Keep visiting us for our exclusive teas and Have a great tea time!