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Trek:
Nilgiri
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2002
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Tea Trek
Nilgiri
by Michelle D. Williams
A steam train winds its way through the Nilgiris, or "blue mountains," of India's
southwesternmost corner. It puffs through thick, tropical rainforests and up the
sides of steep hills to crests that gaze out over the Indian Ocean. Massive gray
elephants, their hides crusted with mud, lift their trunks in salute as the train
chugs past. Passengers peer out their windows, eyes gleaming at miles and miles
of electric green hillsides, shimmering with tea plants.
The Nilgiri region is one of 29 districts in the Tamil Nadu state
of South India. Recent migration into the area has made it one of the country's
most heavily populated regions. Some 50 million people make their homes there,
including the Todas tribe, a nature-worshiping people native to these hills for
centuries. Nilgiri's Ootacamund Hill Station was once a retreat area for Raj officials
in Madras, and today the region is still one of most popular spots for vacationing.
In fact, every year in January and February, groups of tourists from India and
abroad climb aboard the little steam train to visit the Nilgiri mountains for
the annual Tea and Tourism Festival.
In addition to being drawn to the beauty of the area, it was also
tea that inspired one of the first Englishmen to make his home in these mystical
blue mountains. John Sullivan began experimenting with tea farming in the Ketti
Valley using China jat seeds, and he recommended large-scale tea cultivation to
the British government as early as 1835.
But it wasn't until 1859, after the Opium War between China and
Britain had ended, that the Nilgiri region was planted with tea for commercial
production. At the time, enterprising businessmen were ready to get rich on tea.
Gardens in Assam and Darjeeling had already been established and were on their
way to successful production.
Tea production boomed in the mid-1900s thanks to the collapse of
the coffee industry during the Great Depression. In Nilgiri, land under tea production
grew from about 7400 acres in 1920 to more than 22,000 acres by 1950. During the
late 1950s and 1960s, after India gained independence, tea production expanded
further. Under British colonial rule, large numbers of South Indians traveled
to Sri Lanka to work on tea plantations. A repatriation program established by
the new Indian government helped many people native to the Nilgiri hills return
home from Sri Lanka. Because many of these people had gained considerable knowledge
of tea production, the Tamil Nadu government encouraged them to set up their own
farms, and government-sponsored tea cooperatives were established to help the
small farmers with processing. During the 1980s, global tea prices surged. At
the same time, India and Russia signed a trade agreement, and tea exports from
Nilgiri to Russia increased dramatically.
Unfortunately, global economics can be like mountain railway systems,
with many twists and turns. In recent years, tea prices have dropped as production
has increased in countries such as Vietnam and Argentina. With the break up of
the Soviet Union, the Russian market collapsed, and the newly formed Commonwealth
of Independent States (CIS) began buying tea from all over the world, instead
of solely from India. According to an article in the March-May year 2002 issue
of Contemporary Tea Time
magazine, exports have dropped in South India by eight percent. Meanwhile, during
the 1990s, the tea industry in neighboring Sri Lanka took measures to increase
productivity and rehabilitate farms. In 1992, the Sri Lankan tea industry went
from nationalization to private sector management. Estates were replanted with
clonal plants and new varieties, and factories were modernized. Sri Lanka's production
is mostly orthodox black tea, selling to western Asia and northern Africa, with
increasing numbers of customers in the CIS region. According to the article, "India's
loss has been Sri Lanka's gain."
Over the past couple years, many gardens in South India have bordered
on bankruptcy. Production costs are on the rise, and while domestic consumption
has increased due to population growth, domestic consumption per capita has decreased,
thanks to a rise in soft drink consumption. Nilgiri tea producers are now scrambling
to find a niche in today's competitive tea market.
The Nilgiri region produces nearly 100,000 tons of tea per year,
accounting for approximately one-quarter of India's total tea production. In 2000,
verdant tea shrubs graced nearly 150,000 acres of land in the blue mountain region.
The majority is grown on large privately owned estates, where 60 percent of the
work is accomplished by women. As in other areas of India, the estates offer accommodation,
education, medical facilities, and places of worship for laborers and their families.
Well-known estates include Chamraj, Burnside, Dunsendale, Korrakundah, Craigmore,
Havukal, and Tiger Hill.
Approximately 50 percent of the tea produced in Nilgiri is exported.
Primary buyers at this point include the United Kingdom, Europe and parts of the
CIS. Most of the tea produced is CTC black, and many buyers use it for blending,
to make teabags and concentrates, and for flavoring. In addition, Nilgiri teas
are often used to manufacture iced tea blends, because they don't cloud.
While CTC production is dominant in the region, the Nilgiri tea
industry has begun to focus more on orthodox teas in an effort to compete in more
diverse markets. Jack Strand, owner of Strand Tea Co., a retailer/wholesaler in
Portland, Ore., says that because world tea prices have been so depressed, Nilgiri
tea producers must work even harder to market their orthodox teas. Nilgiri has
been hit harder in the market crisis than other tea-growing regions in India,
because it does not have the long-standing reputation of other growing areas.
"Darjeeling and Assam have marketed themselves much better over the years," Strand
says. "Assams were associated early on as breakfast teas. They were blended into
all of the breakfast blends, and some were straight breakfast teas, which appealed
to the Western market, particularly in Europe. So they jumped out-they had a huge
market from the start. Nilgiris were never a part of that."
Strand also points out that Nilgiris have always been considered
afternoon teas because they are so much lighter than Assams. "They have the characteristics
of a Ceylon tea but without the astringency," Strand says. "They can range from
woodsy to fruity. They have a nice fragrance, and they have beautiful leaves.
But Nilgiris have never had the name power of Ceylons in the West. People think,
'Oh, afternoon tea. I want a Darjeeling or a Ceylon.'"
But Strand says that the taste of Nilgiris is especially unique
because of the lack of tannins in the tea. "It allows for a range of flavors to
come out in the absence of the astringency-it's much less than its neighboring
Ceylon teas and certainly much less than Darjeelings and Assams."
Orthodox Nilgiri teas tend to be light in color but strong in body.
"It's a subtle taste that is hard to describe," says Sanjay Gupta, president and
CEO of Tea Connexions, a Canadian tea-buying group and distributor specializing
in leaf-grade teas from India. "Nilgiri tea has a mild aroma but plenty of body,
so it tastes like tea. And it's a self-drinking tea-it's good without milk or
sugar."
Because of their strong body and versatile nature, Nilgiris are
used in India more frequently in the production of chai. Strand explains that
while some chai purists believe that the steamy, spiced beverage must be made
only with bold, malty Assams, others feel that Nilgiris bring a unique taste characteristic
to chai. At the same time, Nilgiris appeal to many locals because they are much
less expensive and considerably easier to transport than Assams, because of their
location.
The lower price of Nilgiri teas is partially due to a lack of strategic
marketing on the part of Nilgiri producers, but it is also because Nilgiri plants
offer much higher yields. According to James Norwood Pratt in his book New Tea
Lover's Treasury, the Nilgiri region has only 10,000 more acres than the tea region
in Darjeeling, but it produces 10 times the amount of tea per year. Thanks to
Nilgiri's ideal climate, which enables year-round harvests, the average estate
can yield more than 3000 pounds of processed tea per acre.
Situated just above the equator, the Nilgiri region is quintessentially
tropical, with consistently warm, tea-nurturing temperatures and up to 250 inches
of rain that falls evenly throughout the year. While harvesting and processing
continues year-round, the best teas are produced from December to March, between
the region's two monsoon seasons. Thirty-five percent of Nilgiri's annual production
is harvested at this time, as these "seasonal teas" offer more flavor and pungency.
Most tea produced in Nilgiri is black, but in an effort to diversify
and expand market range, some farmers are beginning to produce small amounts of
green and oolong tea. "Some of the better Nilgiris have a little bit of green
leaf in them, and it makes them very interesting," Strand says. "It adds a depth
of flavor that you wouldn't normally get. I would say that it's only been in the
past few years that [producers] have even thought about doing this, because of
the changing market."
Organic teas are another area that Nilgiri farmers are turning
to for diversification. While India in general is beginning to focus more on biodynamic
and organic farming, Nilgiri has one of the oldest organic tea estates in the
country. According to Manik Jayakumar, an importer with Qtrade International,
the Oothu tea garden has been producing organic tea in Nilgiri for more than 13
years. "As a single plantation, they are probably producing the largest amount
of organic tea in the world," he says. "They are good teas, otherwise they wouldn't
be producing and selling them everywhere."
Several other gardens in Nilgiri, including Chamraj, Korrakundah
and Dunsendale, are producing organic teas, and industry experts say that organic
farming is likely to increase in Nilgiri as producers fight to stay competitive.
Indeed, the most significant issues for the Nilgiri tea industry today are finding
new markets inside and outside of India, promoting its orthodox teas and ensuring
that production continues. While domestic consumption is high in India, it has
begun to wane. The industry has begun various campaigns to promote the health
benefits of tea drinking, and according to Contemporary
Tea Time magazine, the Indian Tea Board is
trying to generate internal tea trade. South Indian tea growers recently visited
estates in the northern regions to gain a better understanding of what consumers
in that area are looking for. During their visit, the southern growers had the
opportunity to show northern buyers samples of their teas and to discuss efforts
that have been made to upgrade the quality of teas grown in South India.
Supply in the work force also has become an issue in recent years,
because young people have so many other employment options, in fields such as
technology and business. And, as is the case with premium and specialty teas in
general, educating consumers is key in driving the Nilgiri market.
Tea Connexions sells a premium Nilgiri that Gupta believes is the
best of the Nilgiri region. His customers, however, are not generally interested
in Nilgiris, even though their taste characteristics are similar to mid-level
Darjeelings. "If people knew about Nilgiri teas and were able to purchase them,
more would drink them," Gupta says. "Most people we deal with have never heard
of them."
Gupta says that those customers who buy his Nilgiris do so because
they are so much less expensive than the comparable Darjeelings. The suggested
retail price for his premium Nilgiri is $4.40 per 3.5 ounce-much less than a Darjeeling
would cost. "This is a great tea to introduce to someone on a budget, but who
loves tea," Gupta says.
Strand has had similar experience. Many of his customers won't
buy Nilgiri teas because they simply are not familiar with them. "When they are
fairly new, and they say they want a Ceylon-like taste without the astringency,
we always recommend Nilgiris, and inevitably, they like them," he says. It's a
steep hill to climb, but Nilgiri tea producers seem to be committed to building
a new reputation. If only that steam train could make its way around the world,
spreading the news to tea lovers far and wide. Perhaps Nilgiri could then take
its place in the global tea market next to its cousins in North India.
Michelle D. Williams is a freelance writer and
editor and frequent contributor to Fresh Cup
Magazine. She lives in Portland, Oregon.
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