From Assam to the Nilgiris, India’s tea gardens have long catered to not only the country’s burgeoning domestic tea culture but overseas as well. The canvas of the tea industry is dominated by black and green, but there’s even s of a very special spattering of white. While black and green teas are popular, white tea has its very own little niche in the gourmet world. A journey to the blue hills of the Nilgiris in South India offers visitors an exceptional gourmet tea tasting experience.
Your destination is a tea estate in Coonoor, which has been in the family for four generations. Tea grown in the Nilgiris is rated as the third-best after Darjeeling and Assam. Following the defeat of Tipu Sultan in the 4th Anglo-Indian War, the Nilgiris was ceded to the East India Company. In 1833 attempts were made by the British to plant tea here successfully. In 1835 Ketti, a plantation in the hills served as a more successful place for the tea seeds. By 1851, the first commercial tea plantations in the Nilgiris were up and running at Dunsandle and Thiashol.
What lies in store here is a memorable gourmet tea tasting experience, which has been ranked amongst the seven best tea experiences in the world by Conde Nast Traveller. This rare treat is designed to give you an insight into how speciality teas are made.
The tea tasting experience takes place in the midst of the host’s tea estate on the slopes of ‘Tenerife Hill’, the highest peak in Coonoor, with breathtaking views of the rolling Nilgiri hills. An interactive experience conducted by an in-house expert. You will have the privilege of tasting some of the finest teas and enjoy the rich nuances that go into making a fine tea. You will also be able to buy some of the gourmet teas directly from your hosts.
What enhances the whole showcase is the personal touch of the host family in taking you around the plantation on a sensory journey through the myriad colours, aromas and flavours of speciality Nilgiri teas, followed by a tasting of a range of their gourmet teas considered by many to be amongst the finest teas in the world.