The Tea Journal
Written from
the garden.
What the seasons give, how orthodox tea is made, and how to drink it well. Four series, written slowly — dispatches from the hillside, essays on the craft, notes for the cup, and the knowledge of the leaf.
Dispatches
Seasonal letters from the gardens
The Craft
How whole-leaf tea is made
The Cup
Brewing, ritual and the table
The Leaf
GI, flushes and the language of tea
The Cup
Brewing Darjeeling Green — Less Heat, More Patience
A whole-leaf green from the hills is not brewed like a black tea. Water off the boil, a modest measure, and a shorter steep — and how to take the same leaves round again.
Dispatches
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.
The Leaf
What GI Certification Actually Protects
Fewer than 87 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.
The Craft
Rolled, Not Torn — Why Orthodox Tea Keeps the Leaf Whole
Most of the world's tea is crushed by machine in minutes. Orthodox tea is rolled whole over hours. The difference is everything you taste.
The Cup
The Patience of the Second Steep
A whole leaf does not give everything at once. How to steep the same leaves again — and why the second infusion is often the one you remember.
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.