· The Business of Bags

· A Thousand Teas in an Afternoon

Vanessa Sly is the Dry Goods Manager at Zingerman's Deli. Her background includes work as a ceramic artist, a pastry chef in Las Vegas and baking bagels at Zingerman's Bakehouse. Initially drawn to the densely packed Dry Goods aisle at the Deli mainly because of her intense fascination for tea, Vanessa has focused her attention there and continues to strive to learn more and more about the intriguing business of tea. Last March she was awarded a scholarship from Zingerman's to go to Darjeeling, India to learn more about how tea is grown, treated, bought and sold. This essay is the story of her trip.

All that I had read about the road to Darjeeling was true. The drive in was harrowing, winding up the edge of a mountain with steep cutoffs and barely enough room to pass a car coming in the other direction. I remember thinking that if I died on that road at least my last view would be beautiful. And it was spectacular — tea gardens climbing up the neighboring mountains, their sculpted bushes rolling like clouds in the distance. Through luck and riding on the tail end of a cold spring, I happened to arrive at Goomtee Tea Estate just the first harvest of the year began.

The guest lodging is a 100-year-old bungalow with meticulously maintained grounds and pots of flowers lining the interior entrance. It's rather secluded — about an hour-and-a-half from the town of Darjeeling. For most guests, there is little there to do but relax, read the books in their library, and enjoy the cooking of the Nepalese chef who prepared three fantastic meals each day. I was too excited by the work going on around me to follow their lead, so I filled my days milling around the gardens and the factory, or sticking my head in the kitchen to see how they were preparing the food. In the mornings I went for long hikes through the tea estate with a guide named Michael. He pointed out the irrigation systems — the rainwater collection pools and the piping system snaking down the mountain — and he showed me the single generator that powered the entire area. As we walked, he spoke of his job in the factory. He was part of the team that determines the grades of tea after processing, his keen eye honed from many years of working his way up through the various levels of responsibility within the factory.

Afternoons were spent with the manager of the estate, an imperious but respected and fair man who oversaw every detail of plucking and production, as well as the lives of the people who worked on the estate. His presence was so powerful that it was hard to tell if there was any detail he didn't know about. He showed me their books, where they meticulously keep track of every leaf of tea as it enters the factory. First flush is a very specific plucking in that it must only be two leaves and one bud, so each plucker's basket is emptied and counted as it comes in from the field. Damaged or extra leaves are noted and discarded to ensure that the harvest is premium.

Plucking is done in two shifts every day, the first beginning at 7:30 a.m. sharp. All the women gather with their baskets and the manager informs the leaders of each group where to harvest that day. They disperse in many directions, making their way down narrow trails to their intended spots. It is said that women always do the plucking because of their small, delicate hands. And indeed, they make very quick work of it. A quick grab and twist and on to the next bud and two leaves, eventually tossing a handful over their shoulders into deep woven baskets on their backs. Everyone regroups before lunch and checks their baskets into the factory for counting. A few hours later, the process repeats itself and they pluck for another four or so hours into the late afternoon. Standing there in the rising sun and humidity, seeing the speed with which they work and how long it takes to fill a basket, caused me to look at tea in an entirely different light. It's a lot of work! What we see here, in a country that does not produce tea, are squiggly, dried pieces of leaves. This image does not tell the story behind all the hands that it passes through, all the labor and attention to detail, all the years of refining the processes and recordkeeping to produce a consistent product.

After the first baskets are brought in from the fields, the tea factory runs 24 hours a day. Once plucked, the tea is checked in and weighed and then moved to the withering troughs — long wooden structures with a metal grate and a sheet of muslin on the bottom. Under the grate is a shaft that is connected to a large fan, which blows air from underneath to start the process of reducing the water in the leaves. On cold mornings heat can be introduced, but it is carefully monitored because too much can dry the leaves too quickly, diminishing the flavor of the harvest. Once a desired moisture level is reached, the tea is gathered and funneled through a chute to the floor below. The next step in production is called 'rolling' where the tea leaves are ruptured, releasing their natural oils. The large machines used for this part are very straightforward and impressively solid. The tea is poured into the top of a shaft, where it falls down onto a large metal plate that oscillates in a circular motion parallel to the floor. Pressure is applied by a large metal plate that is controlled by a dial. Every few minutes it is increased and decreased to get the perfect amount of curl to the leaves. After forty minutes, the leaves are piled on a stainless steel table and allowed to oxidize, the principal part of the process that separates black from green teas. From there, the leaves are dried slowly to about 2-3% humidity. The leaves are then sorted, graded and bagged in large quantities to be auctioned off in Calcutta.

Throughout the year there are four harvests (known as "flushes") in Darjeeling. The first flush begins in early March. The gardens are plucked every four to seven days up until mid-April, producing a lighter colored tea with brisk flavor. First flush is sought world-over by connoisseurs because of it's unique flavor and limited supply. In 2008, the cold weather held back the beginning of the harvest, making the season even shorter still.

The second flush occurs in mid May to early June, when the leaves are more mature and larger in size than during the first growth of the year. Its distinctively dry, currant-like flavor is often referred to as "muscatel." The resulting cup is full bodied, deep amber to brown in color. It's the second flush that has influenced the world's perception of what Darjeeling tea is, and is what has made this region of the world famous, unique and unparalleled.

Summer brings the beginning of the rainy season, during which they gather the "monsoon flush." This rainy-season harvest causes rapid growth, producing very large leaves that brew deep red cups with strong flavors. Because of the rapidity of growth, it does not contain much distinction in flavor. The monsoon harvest is primarily sold in the commodity tea market, where it is then blended with other teas to give them a basis of flavor and color. The final plucking of the year is known as the autumnal flush, plucked just as the weather begins to cool. Like late harvest wines, the autumnal flush is sweeter, it's flavor is much more subtle than the previous flushes. It is rich and smooth, and, although it does not have as forward a flavor as the previous flushes, it's beauty lies within it's delicacy and it's lovely softness in the mouth.

There is as much to like about the first flush as there is to like in the autumnal flush, but to compare the two would be like apples to oranges. Tasting each of the four flushes from the previous year side by side was like a journey through the seasons. First flush, with its astringency was like an awakening, brisk and green from fresh growth. Second flush sang with hues from the early summer sun, with its lovely muscatel depth and rounded flavors. Rainy season was dark and heavy. The autumnal (which will forever hold a special place in my memory since it's what I drank for breakfast, lunch and dinner while I was there) was imbued with a honeyed sweetness.

I returned to Michigan with a deeper understanding of what is involved in the process and the lives of the people who produce tea, and ever more excited about the subtleties of flavors that are produced throughout the region. I'm looking forward to tasting this year's harvest from the various estates and selecting the best of what's available. And now, as I debate every morning on which harvest I want to begin the day with, I think of the luxury of my choices that have been informed by my journey. I am more conscious of the care and intent that has been paid to every leaf. I ask myself, I should I drink with the season, or go based on my mood? If it's a lazy Sunday morning, should I slide into my day with a smooth autumnal? If it's Monday and I'm heading into a day full of meetings, should I jumpstart my day with a brisk first flush?

In August, we will have fresh first and second flushes from Darjeeling. The first flushes are from the 2008 harvests of Margaret's Hope Estate and Makaibari Estate. Later in the fall, after its harvest in October, we'll have an autumnal flush. We'll also be bringing in an Assam, from the sub-tropical tea estates in the far North East of India, a Nilgiri, from the south of India, as well as teas from Ceylon and Taiwan. For those of you who love Chinese, Japanese and herbal teas, we carry a wide selection of teas specially selected by Rishi Tea company. We've been working with them for years and have a deep respect for their dedication to quality and flavor and we think you'll agree!

The Business of Bags
We first met Ashook and Rajen in Calcutta at the Tolly Gunge Club for tea. The Tolly Club has been around since the Raj and it's as much a piece of colonial history in Calcutta as the Victoria Memorial. It was a balmy spring afternoon, and we had tea on the verandah, under ceiling fans, at the edge of the putting grounds.

Ashook told us about his business as a broker. He buys product for large distributors of tea in the international market. Rajen is currently retired, but held a similar position. They proudly referred to themselves as "Tea Men." Brokers are the first step beyond production on the estates, the people who taste and buy directly from the producers. They then sell to importers, who market to retailers. It's the brokers that taste the raw product and create blends based on the market needs.

We talked about the differences in the way that people drink tea in different parts of the world. It was interesting to learn that the large scale market in the US demands lighter brews that are suitable for ice tea, where as the UK and Canadian markets prefer teas that are darker in color, strong, and full-bodied because most drinkers add milk, and that the Saudi Arabian market is unique in that they prefer teas that have a slightly smoky quality to them. They receive thousands of samples each harvest and taste them all multiple times, first on their own and then with the addition of milk. When tasted, each tea is rated on its flavor, brightness, pungency, and faults. The addition of milk was an interesting step done because many people add it to their tea when they drink it, so they take it into account when they're looking for specific blends.

Even though I've been tasting and purchasing for Zingerman's whole leaf, single estate teas, and even though I've always dismissed mass marketed tea in bags, speaking with Ashook and Rajen gave me a newfound appreciation to the business of bagged tea. It's not as simple as "sweeping up the dust from the tea factory floor." Many of those teas are expertly chosen through meticulous tasting and awareness of their intended markets, purchased in high volume (which, after seeing the labor involved in plucking and harvesting only a small amount, is a lot of work), and carefully blended to maintain a flavor profile that their customers expect.

We also talked about the varying degrees of quality in the mass marketed teas, and how they choose teas for blending. For example, some tea companies like Taylor's of Harrogate market their teas based on the type of water in certain areas. Their Yorkshire blend, sold in the north of England, is blended to taste best when steeped with soft water, whereas they market a different blend for areas which have hard water.

A Thousand Teas in an Afternoon
Ashook's palate is so practiced that he can differentiate teas from one another with surprising accuracy, which is quite a feat considering that he tastes so many. On a busy day during peak season he sometimes tastes up to 1000 teas in one session. He's been in business long enough to have both influenced and set the standard for the flavor profiles of the companies he buys for. He is also able to quickly weed out and narrow down a strong selection for purchase. Because he's purchasing tea that will be put into bags, it's usually not full leaves, but various grades of broken leaves (known as CTC, or 'cut, tear, curl'), fannings and dust.

The next afternoon we meet at Ashook's office. We chatted about business while his assistants prepared the samples we were about to taste. For these purposes, they steep them a bit stronger than would normally be drunk, so that we could get a good idea of the flavor from a small sip. Lined up along the tasting counter, each in a white porcelain bowl with its brew cup and brewed leaf placed behind it, I was admittedly giddy with excitement to taste them all. We stood with a spittoon between us and a window behind, so as to view the colors of the tea through natural light. In all, we tasted over 30 teas that afternoon.

First, we looked for color. Some were pale, others were greenish, most were various shades of warm browns, and a few had a notably red hue. The various colors were the result of location and season. The pale green was visible in the first flush Darjeelings, while the ones from Assam and Kenya were a rich burgundy. Next we looked for brightness, a term that was new to me: it refers to the reflection of light on the liquor. The brightest teas were brilliant, while the other end of the extreme was murky or opaque. Brightness is an important factor in how people perceive the taste and the quality of the tea, for our tastes, after all, are very influenced by what we see. Then we tasted for flavor, taking quick, loud slurps of tea from porcelain Chinese-style spoons. After swishing it around in our mouths we spit it into the spittoon, similar to a wine tasting, and talked about the flavor and any faults we might have noticed. Although we didn't discuss it, I suspect that all utensils involved in tasting are made of porcelain instead of metal so as to not alter the flavor.

Towards the end of our tasting, he brewed up a couple examples of different grades of tea (CTC and dust), as well as some that were 'very bad' by his standards, to give me an idea of the range. The worst I can still remember distinctly since it tasted more like dirt and cardboard than tea.

For blending, they choose teas from different regions to lend different qualities to the brewed cup. Ceylonese and orthodox Indian teas are chosen for flavor, other Indian teas (especially from Assam) provide a 'thickness' to the body, while Kenyans add flavor and brightness. It's an art, a science, and a business whose product has global reach.