Darjeeling tea
tea from the Darjeeling district in West Bengal, India
Darjeeling tea is a tea made from Camellia sinensis var. sinensis that is grown and processed in Darjeeling district or Kalimpong district in West Bengal, India. Since 2004, the term Darjeeling tea has been a registered geographical indication referring to products produced on certain estates within Darjeeling and Kalimpong. The tea leaves are processed as black tea, though some estates have expanded their product offerings to include leaves suitable for making green, white, and oolong teas.
The tea leaves are harvested by plucking the plant's top two leaves and the bud, from March to November, a time span that is divided into four flushes. The first flush consists of the first few leaves grown after the plant's winter dormancy and produce a light floral tea with a slight astringency; this flush is also suitable for producing a white tea. Second flush leaves are harvested after the plant has been attacked by a leafhopper and the camellia tortrix so that the leaves create a tea with a distinctive muscatel aroma. The warm and wet weather of monsoon flush rapidly produces leaves that are less flavorful and are often used for blending. The autumn flush produces teas similar to, but more muted than, the second flush.
Tea plants were first planted in the Darjeeling region in the mid-1800s.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Darjeeling tea” is tea from the Darjeeling district in West Bengal, India. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Darjeeling, district and West, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “tea from the Darjeeling district in West Bengal, India” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q745933. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2004.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Darjeeling tea”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Darjeeling tea primary sources, Darjeeling tea archive and Darjeeling research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Darjeeling tea”?
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- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Darjeeling tea” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.