For me, one of the benefits of being a tea tourist is that tea is grown in places I enjoy visiting. Happily, some of the best tea is grown in mountainous highlands. The village of Bir, in the Kangra region of Himachal Pradesh, is at an altitude of 1500 meters and is surrounded by tea gardens. It is also the home of a major Tibetan settlement, and nearby Billing is a world-famous takeoff point for paragliding. Continue reading “Bir and Tea”
While Darjeeling and Assam are probably the best-known tea growing regions in India, Kangra, in mountainous Himachal Pradesh, is historically better known for its eponymous style of painting than for its tea. Continue reading “Kangra Tea”
In the mid 19th century, China tea bushes were brought to the Kangra region of Himachal Pradesh by the Scottish botanist William Jameson. Today Kangra produces about 800,000 kg of tea annually, a small amount of India’s total annual production of over 1.2 billion kg, according the Indian Tea Association. Continue reading “Palampur Cooperative Tea Factory”
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