Tea in the Land of Thunder: Field Notes from Darjeeling

Last summer, Arbor Teas traveled across India, visiting many of the estates that produce the organic Indian teas we carry. During the journey, co-founder Jeremy Lopatin visited the Makaibari Tea Estate in Darjeeling, to get a firsthand look at how top-notch Darjeeling teas are made. Settle in and enjoy this short film highlighting the beautiful people, places, and processes behind the Organic Darjeeling teas we are so proud to offer.
[Update: In 2016 this film was an official selection and screened at the Sedona International Film Festival, World Arts Film Festival, Alexandria Film Festival, Cape Cod International Film Festival, and won an honorable mention award at the Short. Sweet. Film Festival]
Interested in trying the organic second flush Darjeeling black tea that was being made in the video? Visit Arbor Teas online at www.arborteas.c...
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Who is Arbor Teas?
At Arbor Teas, our daily mission is to find the world's most fantastic organic teas and deliver them to you as sustainably as possible. From our exceptional collection of organic and Fair Trade Certified® teas, to our Carbonfree® business practices, to our backyard compostable package, our passion is steeped in a desire to do worldly good, and our vision is to remain organic to a tea™.
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A 7 Cylinders Studio Production: www.7cylinders.com
Featuring: Jeremy Lopatin, Rajah Banerjee, Pranay Bhujel
Director/Camera: Donald Harrison
Editor: David Camlin
Produced by: Arbor Teas
Music: “Midday (noon/early afternoon) RAGAS (part 2 of 3)" performed by Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt for Lothar J.R. Maier (promotion initiative IMC - India meets Classic) - archive.org/de....

[@nathanbermudez2089]

wow ! really loving this little documental. I just felt that I was there, its very nice to know where this tea comes from and the beauty of the process , keep it up ✌ hugs from Puerto Rico

[@ArborTeas]

+Nathan Bermudez Aw, thanks, Nathan! That's exactly the result we were hoping for - having our friends feel like they were brought along on the journey. Cheers from Arbor Teas!

[@TheHideki1edu]

Wonderful landscapes. Just sipping a cup of darjeeling tea kind of transport us to these misty tea gardens. I really enjoy the calm, refreshing and peaceful vibes tea gives us.

[@paulphelps7809]

Truly a wonderful video experience. In my opinion it is important. A tea-drinking lifestyle is civilizing and transforming both physically and spiritually.

[@bbhasin]

Thank you. That was lovely. Makaibari, my favorite tea !

[@darjeelingjojo8360]

I want to thanks to all worker of tea garden and God bless you and also great salute their hard working...

[@sebastiandiaz6601]

Wonderful documentary, wonderful people, wonderful nature, wonderful drink.

[@rishi-eq8kx]

Very nice coverage in some beautiful and well-organised tea-estate.....the experience of mr. banerjee the owner oozes in abundance in the highly impressive, pleasant and convincing way he explains it all to the visitor from abroad.....like the crucial tea-tasting section ! Thanks for the video.

[@dianastirling9194]

Wonderful! Thank you so much for this view of the world behind this gorgeous tea!

[@coffeepot13]

My favorite tea! So beautiful!

[@EricBryan]

Very fascinating. It is cool to see the process before the tea reaches our cup!

[@vinyleyezz]

So cool! What a great mini documentary!

[@IAmNotABot9]

So they plant lemongrass near the tea bushes to use it as organic material to compost? Interesting piece of information on growing tea techniques!

[@gyanuraivlogs]

I love Darjeeling tea. ❤new friend from Darjeeling 🙏🙏🙏

[@spy8464BB]

I'm drinking tea and watching this video. What a good time. Then I look at the label on my tea package and what do you know. My tea is from Makaibari Estates. OMG. My tea is from this beautiful place.

[@Thebakedbaker413]

5:45 that must smell amazing!

[@Thebakedbaker413]

Oh thats neat the basket balances on their heads. Fancy.

[@charlescorbit1]

Great video, I recently bought some white Markaibari tea and it’s very good. The video will make me enjoy it even more

[@xiaor1ck213]

I don't know why but in totally ecstatic hearing them talk in nepali...

[@PierreJohnsonPro]

Very nice and interesting documentary. I’ve been hearing from Makaibari as the pioneer and biodynamic tea plantation, under Mr Banerjee. Your documentary finally gives images, colors and life to it. I’ve tasted fine Darjeeling tea, but here we can really appreciate and understand the process, made of numerous precise and delicate detailed steps. Is this tea expensive? Not if you consider all the process involved.

[@abhishekgiri1201]

Beautiful documentry!!!

[@gyanuraivlogs]

Lovely so Lovely video thank you 😊❤🙏

[@Musrusticus-]

Lovely.

[@leightoncooke]

Bravo 👍 I love Darjeeling tea.

[@nagarajanganesan2726]

Superb...

[@marcosvalle7218]

Amazing documentary! Many thanks. As a side note, why do I see subtitles from EN to EN lol?

[@adityabiyani387]

i love chai / tea

[@chandrashekar-ml1bp]

Fine documentary

[@parivallal5903]

Hi sir, I want to start this business ..how to get details , please support

[@channelforwhat]

@3:44 Something new to learn here

[@rajeshsinghania9262]

excellent

[@prosantagplkkol89]

Word of advice...the music u r playing is not matching..darjeeling's is tibetian music..u r playing music that comes in context of plain lands of india....

[@proudgorkha3416]

@@Hari-kx2er lauda bol hamara darjelling ka pahadi music hona chahiye

[@antriksX]

Lol... Darjeeling people mostly nepali Pahadis..not Tibetan..

[@packagingmachine1661]

Nice

[@skc1003]

12:21 that guy stepped inside the machine where the final tea (90%) were produced. It kinda gross. But what do I know. I mean, I'd never eat/ drink anything if I'd keep on overthinking stuffs

[@ciftepugar]

This tea fabric is my dream 😂

[@binnisubba296]

We the people working in tea garden we never been test even one ceep of 1st class tea Peoples we Sud stop plucking tea Better cultivate some fruits vegetables Our hard working only for business man

[@vik238]

Remember if the tea estates weren't there, those people won't have jobs, i.e., any jobs. Some of these places are so remote, subsistence agriculture alone doesn't suffice.

[@sayalikolhe4868]

@@vik238 You clearly just want to justify the exploitation they go through in this system. You are just talking like an american slave owner, " slavery is fine since, these people won't find any other livelihood. It is better if they serve us, because they have nowhere else to go and neither do they have any capabilities to do anything else." However, if you must know, the tea workers are paid LESS than the minimum wage in agriculture imposed by law. Maybe try and think about this! Their next generation has minimum access to education, so the workers are not able to free themselves from this continuous cycle of exploitation even if they want to.

[@mitranj452]

Iam interested tea business

[@sourajitdas6000]

mo- kai- barri

[@abhishekgiri1201]

Its not. mo- kai- barii dats bengali tone its Maa-kai-Baari which in Nepali means Corn(Makai) field(bari)!!!

[@ashwinigurung6620]

Stop colonizing us already

[@eymerichinquisitore9022]

It requires enough desperation, our turn will come too, you do well to train

[@Jaded724]

Amazing place; but spreading the common misinformation that the Darjeeling tea variety is a native species that never had any genetic exchange between camelia sinensis is false and very untrue; its a hybrid. India and the british empire were willing to go as far as wipe out all information of the 6 chinese tea masters that migrated there with mr fortune, yet only fortunes name and identity is remembered. All current plantations in Darjeeling could only exist because of these chinese migrants expertise, experience, and efforts. The deliberate erasure of these chinese migrants off of historical records, only perpetuates the long withstanding xenophobia and oppression against chinese/sino ethnicities.