THE 5 BEST GREEN TEA BRANDS IN INDIA

Green Tea varieties are grown best in high-altitude regions of Darjeeling and the Himalayas. Some of the highest quality green teas in India are found in the tea estates of these regions. As a large part of our food industry, the Indian tea industry was another consequence derived from the global politics of its time.

In 1823 a Scotsman named Robert Bruce discovered a native variety of tea in Assam, which was further developed by his family in the years to come. During this time, due to Britain and China’s rising conflict, The East India Company was plotting tactics to break the Chinese monopoly over the global tea trade. One of the initiatives taken by the Company was to start producing tea within the British colonies, including India. The first British-led commercial tea plantation in India was established in 1837 in Chabua in Upper Assam.

Unlike the origin of black tea in India, there is no clear evidence of the origin of green tea in India. However, the introduction of Chinese tea plants from which green tea is predominantly derived is credited to Robert Fortune in the year 1850. Fortune employed many different means to steal tea plants and seedlings from China, which were regarded as the property of the Chinese empire. These tea varieties are grown best in high-altitude regions of Darjeeling and the Himalayas. Hence some of the highest quality green teas in India are found in the tea estates of these regions.

Here are our top 5 Green Tea brands one must try:

1) DHARMSALA TEA COMPANY:

As sixth-generation tea planters, The Dharamsala Tea Company has carefully preserved the tradition of sharing single-origin, high-grown Kangra Tea with the rest of the world. In 1882, our great-great-grandparents came to Dharmsala and immediately fell in love with the beautiful, lush green tea slopes and the majestic, snow-capped Himalayan peaks. That year, when they founded The Dharmsala Tea Company, the Kangra District Gazette described the tea as the best green tea and superior to that produced in any other part of India.

2) ANANDINI HIMALAYA TEA:

Anandini Himalaya Tea is a family-run tea estate in Manjhee, Dharamshala, and one of the best green tea brands in the country. Sprawled across 650 acres in the Kangra Valley of Himachal Pradesh this bio-diverse tea plantation was begun by the British early planters, over a century ago. Run by the younger generation tea sommeliers Anamika Singh and Kunal Singh, Anandini offers single estate leaves from the tea gardens of Darjeeling and Assam, as well as Japan, China, and Taiwan.

3) GLENBURN FINE TEA: Started by a Scottish Tea Company in 1859, Glenburn now belongs to one of India's pioneering tea-planting families - The Prakashes are regarded by many as among the best Darjeeling tea estates. Glenburn ascends over the magnificent peaks of the 3rd highest mountain in the world, Mount Kanchenjunga, nestled in 350 hectares of reserve forest that sprawls across the estate. 

“The specialty of Glenburn tea today is a flavour that has evolved through the cross-breeding of the best varieties of tea found in the Himalayas. It started with original China seed bushes and then the early planters brought out tea bushes from Assam, but what we've done in our Darjeeling Tea Estate is to make the best of what we had a hundred years ago, and combine it with the best of today.”

4) HALMARI TEA ESTATE:

With a legacy of over 100 years of experience, expertise, and an equally strong pursuit of quality, Halmari Tea Estate stands tall as one of the top-ranking tea gardens in Assam, and belongs to the Daga Family. Situated on the Lush plains of Upper Assam on sprawling 534 hectares of land, Halmari produces the highest quality teas from pedigree clones.

5) RUJANI TEA:

For over a hundred and twenty-two years and through four generations, the farmer-founders of Rujani Tea have been keepers of tradition. Rajani Tea sources its single-origin tea from the Aideobari Tea Estates, situated on the banks of the River Teok, which flows down from the Naga Hills to the south of the farm, and further north to the Brahmaputra River in Assam. They have been at the forefront of tea research, be it with Tocklai the oldest tea research institute in the world, or other institutions of pre-eminence.