This time last year was very exciting in the Darjeeling region of India, the home of rolling tea hills and the fierce and friendly Gorkha culture. Locals had a sense of empowerment after a labor strike that took the tea industry by hostage. There was no choice but for the tea industry to listen to the people and understand the struggle the local labor has been experiencing as growers and makers of the Champagne of Teas. All eyes on the demand for independence and Gorkhaland, but has anything changed? Gorkhaland was not formed and workers continue to deal with the daily struggles of low profit margin production as they go back to work. There is one big difference though that is not spoken about in media or among industry professionals, the strike further solidified the supply chain of lower value Nepalese teas to be sold as Darjeeling tea.
I have been working with a community of small tea growers led by a Gorkha family in Darjeeling that is focusing on producing high-quality tea to sell to the foreign market called Yanki Tea Factory. Their teas have been valued greatly in the international market, but there is only so much of these highly specialty teas that can be made: The majority of their production is bulk orthodox teas. Following the second flush season, leading up the festival season of Dusshera and Diwali, the family was becoming very worried that they wouldn’t be able to distribute bonuses to the small growers working within their network. The reason is because they were sitting on large stocks of tea from the first and second harvests of 2018 because tea buyers refused to pay a fair price for the tea. The buyers’ argument is that they are able to get similar quality teas at a much lower price from Nepal. These relationships and supply chain had been formed during the time of non-supply during the 2017 strike.
Independent tea makers are not the only ones affected by this development: Even large and famous tea estates are sitting on larger stocks this year. Unsold tea means no cash which means no bonuses. Throughout Darjeeling this year, only 8% was given to the workers whereas a 19.20% bonus was given to the workers in previous years. The festival season is an important time for these communities, and the bonuses have always been the way they are able to enjoy it. This year’s festival season will always have the love and energy of the Gorkha; just more financial struggle.
For the Yanki Tea Factory community, this festival season will be an encouraging one as their direct trade buyers around the world have been introduced to their bulk teas at a fair price and have provided enough revenue for them to provide proper bonuses to their network. There is still much more work to be done in improving quality, efficiency, and marketing for these teas around the world; but it is progress.
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Perhaps the path that the Yanki Tea Factory has taken can be enlarged to benefit more of those in Gorkahaland. I’m so impressed with what they’ve been able to achieve and hope similar gains can be made by others in the region.
Thanks for all you’re doing to accomplish fair wages AND high quality tea.
Yes, the path of Yanki Tea Factory and so many other hardworking local groups growing and making tea is the right one. Supporting them as tea lovers in the best thing we can do!
Gah! Support the beverage you love and drink good tea! Know where your tea is from. Provenance matters! Kudos to Tealet for all the work they do supporting good tea in Gorkhaland and everywhere. ❤️☕️
This sounds wonderful, and congrats on helping small growers out! I’d love to know more about what you mean when you say “tea buyers refused to pay a fair price for the tea.” What is a fair price? What price are you paying for the Yanki tea? I imported a lot of tea from Estates and small growers in Darjeeling this year, and I paid what I believe to be very fair prices. They did not complain, and in fact, were very grateful – I never tried to negotiate, just paid what they asked. I go out of my way to source as ethically as possible, and this makes it sound like I did a disservice rather then helped the situation out. From the people in Darjeeling that I talked to in the last two days about this, they said that the reason for the large stock had many causes, some as a result of the Nepali leaf being sold as Darjeeling tea, but also because of all the rains that happened during the SF season, hampering the quality. Likewise, they told me that the 20% bonus was reduced by the government and Darjeeling political party to 15% because of the 35% wage increase that went into effect. I’d like to see evidence of the 8% bonus number you cite. Criticizing all Darjeeling tea except Yanki tea or other small growers throws all the thousands of Gorkhas under the bus who work on Estates, as well as those who are trying to better the situation within Darjeeling. Not all Gorkhas want a separate state from my understanding. This situation seems extremely complex, and I would like to help in my own small way via sourcing quality tea that is ethically produced, but this reads more like a sales piece then an article with information that I can use in determining who to buy from. Thanks!
The buyers I am referring to in this article are not foreign direct trade buyers like yourself, they are the Indian buyers. Yanki Tea had trouble selling their teas for more than $4 per kg, even for the specialty hand rolled teas. Are the estate representatives you are getting your information from Gorkha? Ive never met a Gorkha in Darjeeling that didnt have some strong sentiment for independence. I have met many Bengalis that have told me that the Gorkha people dont know what they want. Maybe that is the same message you are hearing.