Darjeeling dips, Nepal refills... Nepalese tea sold is 100%

Debraj Mitra and Sambit Saha, TT, Calcutta, Sept. 18: Stores in Calcutta are scraping their Darjeeling tea containers and some are spooning out a Nepalese variety. " Karo Poush mash, karo sarbanash (mirth for one, ruin for another)," lamented a storeowner in south Calcutta as he sold his last carton of Darjeeling and told his customer about the impending Nepal invasion.

The shutdown in the hills, nearing the 100-day mark, is now telling on shop shelves in Calcutta. Post-Diwali, there could be no Darjeeling available in the city, some storeowners said.

Industry and retail sources have said that Nepal stands to benefit the most in such a situation. A kilo of Nepalese tea, which sold for Rs 500 in April, is fetching nearly Rs 800 now.

"As Darjeeling disappears, Nepalese tea will increasingly take its place although it has none of Darjeeling's subtleties," said Rabindranath De, director of Star Tea Co, one of the oldest players in the market. De does not sell Nepalese tea but said he would in all likelihood be forced to stock up after the Pujas.

Several traders are trying to offset the shortage by procuring larger quantities of Nepalese tea, which can be mistaken for Darjeeling by the "not-so-discerning".

"Till a few months ago, the ratio of Darjeeling and Nepalese tea sold by us was 60:40. Now it is almost 100 per cent Nepalese tea," said Surath Saha, co-owner of B.K. Saha & Bros, a nearly-century old wholesaler on Brabourne Road.

Nepal isn't alone. There is Sikkim, too, which has a distinct flavour and a loyal fan base. But with a lone garden in Temi, Sikkim lacks the volumes and cannot substitute for Darjeeling, the sources said.

Some stores in Calcutta said they do have Darjeeling but mostly varieties that cost over Rs 2,000 a kilo. Big retailers are trying to preserve their stocks for regular customers and avoiding bulk sales.

But some industry analysts took the claims of stocks with a pinch of salt. They said that the Calcutta market was usually supplied with low-quality Darjeeling and the possibility of stocks still being available was remote. "What is being sold must be last year's stocks or blended," said an analyst.

In 2016, around 2.4 million kilos of Darjeeling tea were sold in auctions in Calcutta. This year, the figure has been around 6 lakh kilos so far. "No tea could be plucked after the initial second flush production," said Kaushik Basu, general secretary of the Darjeeling Tea Association.

Garden owners warned that the strike would have a cascading effect on next year's production as well. The bushes have grown too long, requiring deep pruning, which in turn can potentially thwart the growth of new leaf, leading to lower crop production.

Even if the strike is withdrawn tomorrow, supplies from Darjeeling are unlikely to hit the market before mid-March next year.