It’s hailed as the champagne of teas, compared with the finest wines of Bordeaux and held up as one of India’s greatest exports, it’s the name that is synonymous with the very best of teas: Darjeeling.
In 2015 I visited Araku Valley which lies in the state of Andhra Pradesh in South East India. There I came across this incredible social and environmental “experiment” being organised by the NGO NAANDI. They are endeavouring to keep the culture and traditions of the peoples who live in this area alive by ensuring that the farmers get a sustainable price for their produce. On top of that they are re-building the eco-system through the planting of 1 million trees each year. For more insights take a look at my book “Big ideas for a small world”.
I wrote a blog about this coffee and its origins on the 5th January 2018 where I described it as a bit “Marmite”. Well a few weeks ago I was over in London and visited a famous Indian restaurant called Dishoom which can be found at 4 Derry Street, Kensington, London.
A couple of years ago I had the privilege of visiting Araku Valley in south east India. The "adventure" resulted in me writing a book "Big Ideas for a Small World" which talked about the huge efforts being made through the help of NAANDI to rebuild the eco-system.
The first thing to point out is the difference between “aged” coffee and simply “old” coffee. Truly aged coffee is carefully aged, usually for six months to three years, by regularly monitoring and rotating the beans to distribute moisture and even out the aging process between coffee bags. This prevents mould and rot from occurring. Coffee is usually aged at origin, and is often aged at a higher altitude, where the temperature and humidity are more stable than at lower elevations.