Steep Stories

Tag: tea estate

  • Two Teas from Arunachal Pradesh

    Of all the states in India, Arunachal Pradesh is one of the most mysterious and mystical. I’m not exaggerating. A cursory research glance turned up nothing concrete in regards to an agreed-upon “history” prior to the 1900s. The rest is conjecture, subjective, and vague—depending on who is relating the info. Even the official border between…

  • I “Heart” Doke

    I “heart” the Doke tea estate. No, I’m not ashamed to use the word “heart” instead of “love”. Especially today. Okay, I winced a tiny bit at the grammatical incorrectness of it (and the cutesiness of it) . . . but the sentiment still stands. And, given when this blog is going up, the cutesy…

  • The Arakai Estate

    Australian Tea Week! Day 1: “The Arakai Estate” Australia. The Land Down Under. Oz. Or whatever other people (including the locals) call it. Our southernmost Pacific neighbor is known for many things: weird and diverse wildlife, a wicked sense of humor, numerous flora and fauna that can kill you in a heartbeat, sometimes good beer…

  • The White Forest Oolong Finish Line

    NaNoTeaMo, Day 30: “The White Forest Oolong Finish Line” Holy heck . . . I made it. This is it, Day 30. The final post in my self-inflicted NaNoTeaMo challenge. No one put me up to it; I wasn’t trying to prove anything. The only reason I did it was to see if I had…

  • Getting Tea Drunk on Giddapahar

    NaNoTeaMo, Day 21: “Getting Tea Drunk on Giddapahar” The Giddapahar tea estate rests near the center of the Kurseong Valley. The name translates to “Eagle’s Cliff”. While still considered high altitude in most respects, it represents one of the lower altitude gardens in that region. One of the most unique aspects of the estate is…

  • Darjeeling Fit for an Emperor

    NaNoTeaMo, Day 16: “Darjeeling Tea Fit for an Emperor” The Singbulli tea estate has a very old history, like a lot of such Darjeeling gardens. It was established in 1924 by British planters, and then was taken over in 2003 by Jayshree Tea and Industries. The garden resides near the town of Mirik, and teas…

  • Montanan Breakfast Tea

    NaNoTeaMo, Day 12: “Montanan Breakfast Tea” This morning, I received a message from Gary Robson, o’ he of Red Lodge Books & Tea fame. I wasn’t quite awake, yet. My hands clumsily fumbled for my phone, and I accidentally activated Facebook’s calling function. No idea how it happened, but it led to a rather spirited…

  • What Makes a Moonlight Tea?

    What makes a tea a “Moonlight” tea? It’s a question I’ve asked myself several times over the last six years, and the one answer I’ve always returned to is, “I don’t care as long as it tastes good. “ But perhaps that was foolhardy. I originally assumed that when the name “Moonlight” was applied to…

  • A Castleton Comparison

    While this has easily been the worst summer of my life, there was an anniversary of sorts. One I had completely forgotten about until I received an e-mail from Vivek Lochan of Lochan Tea. It read: “In continuing with tradition, a sample of the 2015 Castelton Moonlight has been sent to you yesterday by courier.”…

  • Blending Tea and Fiction

    To those that have been following the sporadic attempts to give this blog focus, you’ll know I’ve been experimenting with tea fiction. Sometimes with wondrous results…and other times with startling missteps. Train-wreck or not, I figured an exercise on how these yarns developed was worth exploration. Up until the “Great Vanishing” of September, I had…