Kurseong Valley · Darjeeling · Est. 1888
Giddapahar.
One hillside above Kurseong. Every tea we carry begins here.
The Geography
High on the Kurseong ridge.
The garden sits on the steep flanks of the Kurseong valley, in the Darjeeling hills of West Bengal. Its bushes climb from about 4,500 feet toward 5,200 — high enough that cloud moves through the rows most mornings, and the leaf grows slowly in cool, thin air.
Slow growth is the point. At this altitude the bush concentrates its character into less leaf: smaller harvests, finer cups. The mist does the rest — softening the sun, holding the moisture, keeping the hillside a few degrees from ever being hurried.
4,500ft
Base elevation
5,200ft
Upper slopes
1888
Established
The History
The Eagle's Cliff,
planted in 1888.
Giddapahar takes its name from the rock face above the garden — gidda pahar, the eagle's cliff. The estate was established in 1888, in the first great age of Darjeeling planting, and many of the Chinary bushes set out then are still in the ground: over a century old, and still plucked every season.
It has remained one of the district's smallest gardens, and family-owned — a scale at which the owners can walk the rows themselves. Small has consequences: harvests are measured in hundreds of kilograms rather than tonnes, and nothing leaves the estate that the family has not seen made.
Giddapahar is one of the fewer than 87 gardens entitled to call their leaf Darjeeling under the Geographical Indication — a legal boundary drawn around these hills, and one of the reasons we put the garden's name on every tin.
The People & the Method
Hand-supervised,
at every stage.
The pluck is two leaves and a bud, taken by hand in the cool of the morning. From there the leaf moves through the orthodox method — withering, rolling, oxidation, firing, sorting — each stage watched over by people rather than run to a timer. On a garden this small, the maker tastes every invoice before it carries the estate's name.
Two leaves and a bud
The plucking standard, unchanged since the garden was planted. Selective by definition — a machine cannot make this choice.
Rolled, not torn
Orthodox rolling keeps the leaf whole, so the cup keeps its layers. The craft, step by step →
Tasted, then named
Every lot is cupped at the estate before it is released. Only then does it earn the name and the date on the tin.
The Year on This Hillside
Four harvests,
one garden.
The same bushes, plucked in four different seasons, give four different teas. This is the Giddapahar year — and where today falls within it.
First Flush
Mar – Apr
The garden wakes. Bright, floral, pale — the year's most fleeting pluck.
Second Flush
Jun – Jul
Full summer. Muscatel, honey and amber — the season these hills are famous for.
Monsoon
Jul – Sep
The rains bring bold, full-bodied leaf — the strong morning cup.
Autumn Flush
Oct – Nov
Clear air after the rains. Coppery, rounded, mellow — the year's last word.
The full calendar, in detail — The Four Flushes
Born on This Hillside
The teas of Giddapahar.
First Flush · 100g
Spring Chinary Black
First Flush · 50g
Spring Clonal Black
First Flush · 50g
Spring Moonshine Oolong
First Flush · 50g
White Wonder · Silver Needle
Second Flush · 100g
Summer Chinary Black
Second Flush · 100g
Summer Muscatel Black
Second Flush · 25g
Moonlight Summer White
Autumn Flush · 100g
Autumn Chinary Black
Monsoon Flush · 50g
Darjeeling Green Tea
Signature · Collection
Darjeeling Signature
From the Garden
Dispatches from Giddapahar.
Season by season, we write down what the hillside gave. The dispatches are kept in the Journal.
Dispatch · 11 July 2026
Monsoon 2026 — The Green Flush Comes Down
The rains have reached the Kurseong hillside and the garden changes its work. Why the monsoon weeks belong to green tea, and what this season's cup holds.
Dispatch · 1 July 2026
Second Flush 2026 — Notes from Giddapahar
The summer pluck is under way on the Kurseong hillside. What the second flush is, why these weeks matter most in the Darjeeling year, and what is coming down from the garden.
All series — the Tea Journal
The Harvest Letter
Four letters a year. One per flush.
When a harvest is plucked, we write to you — what the season gave, and what is arriving from the garden. Nothing else, ever.