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Last week we shared how we made MP 9 ready for planting tea. Now let’s see how we plant the bushes themselves. We started planting MP 9 on February 10, 2017. We have already planted 57,000 bushes. We still have about 10,000 bushes to finish. Planting a subsection of tea comprises three steps. First, a pair of workers measure out the rows with special chain. The ensure that the rows have the proper space by precisely staking the ends of the planting chain. They then drop a bit of dolomite at the meeting of each chain link to mark the...

On the edge of Chota Tingrai Tea Estate, at the meeting of the river and forest, our workers are busily planting our newest organic tea section, Manohar Pukur 9 (MP-9). Eventually, these 5 hectares will produce tons of our organic Assam black tea annually.  And I say eventually, because founding a new tea section takes many years. It comprises of four main stages- Land Preparation, Planting, Young Tea, and Mature tea. Over the coming months we will check in regularly with MP-9 so you can watch the tea grow with us. On this blog, we want to share with you...

In Assam, making tea is a community enterprise. While parents pluck or work in the factory, children attend tea estate schools or play sports in tea estate sports fields. Families live in houses constructed and maintained by tea companies. When people get sick, the first doctor that visits is from the estate hospital. Chota Tingrai Tea Estate itself is home to 367 families, situated in two villages. Additionally, we have a hospital, two schools, two soccer fields, a church, a mosque, and several Hindu shrines. Indian plantation law requires us with the maintenance of these structures, and the general welfare...

One thing tea bushes do not like is the cold. Nor do they take to dry weather. Every year from mid-December to the beginning of March, Assam experiences its cold dry season. The tea bushes go dormant, refusing to put out any new leaf. We have not plucked a cup’s worth of tea at Chota Tingrai since December. But that does not mean we have not been busy! Here’s everything we doing in the gardens. We prune the tea bushes: To promote healthy growth in the spring, we prune tea bushes on a three-year cycle—unpruned, deep skiff, and light prune....

Idyllically located next to a meandering river and a protected forest, Chota Tingrai Tea Estate is not a place of hot tempers, or fierce arguments. But one topic does regularly round the debating circles- which is worse, goats or monkeys? We haven’t been able to come to a conclusion. So we need your help. Below are the arguments from both sides as to why goats or monkeys cause more havoc on the tea estate. Goats Goats damage tea bush branches: Goats don’t eat the tea bush themselves. But a goat considers a few snapped tea branches collateral damage in the...