Kurseong Valley · Darjeeling · Est. 1888

Giddapahar.

One hillside above Kurseong. Every tea we carry begins here.

Where is Giddapahar Tea Estate?

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.

Tea rows on the high slopes above the Kurseong valley

4,500ft

Base elevation

5,200ft

Upper slopes

1888

Established

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.

Is Giddapahar a GI-registered Darjeeling garden?

Yes. Giddapahar is one of the 87 gardens entitled to call their leaf Darjeeling under the Geographical Indication — a legal boundary drawn around these hills. It is one of the reasons we put the garden’s name on every tin, alongside the harvest date.

Century-old Chinary tea rows at Giddapahar Tea Estate

The Leaf

What GI Certification Actually Protects

Eighty-seven gardens on earth may call their leaf Darjeeling. What a geographical indication is, why the boundary was drawn, and what it means when the name is on the tin.

How is Giddapahar tea made?

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.

When is Giddapahar harvested?

First Flush runs March to April, Second Flush June to July, Monsoon July to September, and Autumn Flush October to November. 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.

III

Monsoon

Jul – SepIn Season

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

The teas of Giddapahar.

The full collection →

First Flush · Spring

Spring Chinary Black

First Flush · Spring

Spring Clonal Black

First Flush · Oolong

Spring Moonshine

First Flush · White

White Wonder

Second Flush · Summer

Summer Chinary Black

Second Flush · Summer

Summer Muscatel Black

Second Flush · White

Moonlight Summer White

Autumn Flush

Autumn Chinary Black

In season

Monsoon Flush · Green

Darjeeling Green

The House Selection

Darjeeling Signature

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