From Garden to glass – the journey of a tea leaf.
On the flatlands of the beautiful Assam Estates millions of us grow, getting ready to be picked. We, large-leafed flushes, grow best in misty, rainy regions and hence the tropical climate and low altitude of the Assam region contributes to our malty and unique quality- which you can taste in every cup of chai!
Our fruitfall leaves are pruned to about one meter in height so that the gardeners can pluck us easily. However it isn’t an easy task for the farmers to pluck us and there is huge diligence placed into our picking. The farmers must know exactly which flushes- which is the leaf and bud, to pick. Farmers don’t want our big leaves, since we are too tough but they also don’t want the small ones, as apparently we are not economically viable. They pick us when we are new and tender!
I’m not sure if you were aware, but our fruitful gardens have their own separate time known known as “Bagantime”, “Tea Garden Time” is an hour ahead of IST therefore the hard working farmers get an hour extra of sunlight! It can be considered as their version of daylight saving. They carefully pick us between 9am and 3pm and attentively place us into baskets strapped onto their heads and backs.
Chai Point’s team has travelled more than 1000 kms through half of Assam in order to find us, the best leaves from the highest quality estates! They have a direct relationship with our gardeners, cutting out the middleman and since we are of single origin Chai Points team knows exactly where we come from, they have high traceability of our teas and they guarantee our harvesting is done without any harmful pesticides.
Once we are picked we are vacuum packed immediately after manufacturing at our garden itself to give you the freshest glass of Chai.
So the next time you walk into a Chai Point, don’t forget to pick up a pack and sample our flavour. As you can tell, we really are a labour of love – crafted just for you to enjoy!