Where

Our garden, called AARUBOTAY (Plum Tree), is ORGANIC and ISO certified and uses methods of tea propagation that helps the ecology. Our tea bushes are a combination of Japanese, Chinese and ‘Clonal’ varieties which gives us an interesting range to select flavours from.

Being organic, we ONLY use locally home-made manure, either from composted cow dung or forest litter as this not only greatly enhances the taste of our teas but also helps limit our carbon foot print.

As equally important and a matter of pride for us is that AARUBOTAY is also home to a variety of wildlife: porcupine, fox, pheasant, deer, many species of flycatchers, insects, amphibians, snakes, butterflies, spiders and many others, forming a natural food chain.

Locally sustainable

We also provide direct employment to over 30 families in the region and strongly encourage the use of local materials viz., for e.g. using locally made products like wicker baskets for tea plucking, buying spare manure off compost heaps after farmers have finished cultivation and offering our visitors food that is organically grown within the 10 km radius of our garden.

In line with respecting local traditions, we also ask visitors to be quiet in the tea garden/pocket forests, ask before taking photos, think about waste disposal and to conserve water and electricity.

GREEN TEA GROWING

Green Tea can and is grown in many different ways, the variety of which can result in interesting flavours, textures and tastes. However, no matter how varied the process involved may be, the gist of the magic, which we know of as Green Tea, is to preserve and retain the maximum amount of polyphenols and antioxidants that are the keys to the benefits of drinking Green Tea…and it is no different at NGST!

Our green tea plants in AARUBOTAY are grown, at an elevation of 6000 feet above mean sea level, in rows that are pruned to produce shoots in a regular and desirable manner. This enables us to have the choicest pickings for our high quality green tea. The first plucking of the year, also known as the first flush, takes place between early April and produces one of the best teas for the year with prices to match.

Approximately three more harvests take place. The pattern listed below demonstrates (roughly) the harvest cycle: First flush –       April to early May Second flush – June through July / August (monsoon) Third Flush –      August to September (post monsoon) Fourth Flush –    October (autumnal)