Exclusive Organic Tea from Dibrugarh
Dibrugarh is famous for its large tea gardens, oil industry, wood and plywood factories, natural gas rings, cane and bamboo furniture and hand loom items like muga silk, mekhla chador and 'phulam gamosa'. The district earns major portion of its revenue from tea and oil. Dibrugarh has a large area covered by tea gardens and tea factories. Do you know that some of these tea gardens are more than 100 years old! Tea gardens have aided in economic development of this region. This is the reason why Dibrugarh is known as the 'Tea City of India'.Organic Tea from Dibrugarh
To help rural economy, organic tea is fast becoming famous in Dibrugarh. You can get your tea fresh from he source and at a reasonable price too! Tea is collected from small tea growers directly without the need of shelling any money to middle men or third parties in the supply chain. The farmers produce fine hand-rolled tea from their home grown tea processing facilities. They also follow sustainable farming methods and do not use chemical pesticides. What you get is exclusive organically grown tea. There are many such small scale family farms in Dibrugarh where both Assam orthodox black and green tea are produced. Want a hot cup of tea? Think of Dibrugarh!
Tea Gardens in Dibrugarh
Highest amount of tea production is reported from Dibrugarh. Some tea gardens date back to the British era. About 20 kms. from Dibrugarh is Chabua which boasts of the first tea garden owned by Maniram Devaan. Offices of Directorate of Development of Small Tea Growers and Regional Office of the Tea Board of India are both located in Dibrugarh. There are about 144 tea gardens in Dibrugarh.Tea is grown in Brahmaputra and Barak plains in Assam. Other places near Dibrugarh where tea gardens are found are Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Sibsagar, Jorhat, Golaghat, Nagaon and Sonitpur. Many other industries such as saw mills, plywood and card board industries, tin-plate and aluminium foil processing units have come up to cater to demands of tea gardens all around Dibrugarh.
Tea Pickers in Dibrugarh
Tea is exported to other countries after being processed by tea companies. Most of the tea gardens in Dibrugarh are in the outskirts of the city. For instance, Jalannagar Tea Estate is one of the very old in Dibrugarh which was established in 1959. Most of these tea gardens also have guest houses and lodging facilities amidst lush green tea plantations. You can see tea pickers picking the right tea leaves early in the morning. Most of these tea pickers are Bangladeshi immigrants.
The work force includes mostly women dressed in colourful sarees and plucking tea leaves. They deftly use their fingers and thumbs of both hands to nip off 2 leaves and one bud at the tip of every stem. They keep collecting these in locally woven baskets which they carry on their backs. Raked leaves are lay out and dried before the fermentation process. When the basket is filled with tea leaves, the tea pickers visit the mobile weighing station where the yield is logged under every picker's name.
In 1823, tea plant Camellia sinensis was discovered by Major Robert Bruce growing all around near Dibrugarh and in jungles of Assam. Who knew that these plants would catapult Dibrugarh into tea producing place and make it famous for tea! Your visit to Dibrugarh is incomplete if you do not visit its tea gardens. Black tea produced here is popular for its rich body, malty flavour and strong, bright liquor colour (in short, 'Nectar of the Gods'). There is yet another reddish bright quality tea too for you to discover.
You can visit the tea factories and witness various stages of tea processing and manufacturing such as crushing, tearing and curling. May to October are months when the factories are fully operational. The tea-bushes are all neatly pruned with shady trees in between for respite from the sun.
Tea Festival Organized in Dibrugarh
Tea festival is organized by Assam Tourism Corporation in the month of November. The festival offers you opportunity to enjoy your holidays with an interesting visit to golf courses and river cruises! You must also visit 'Guwahati Tea Auction Center (GTAC) located in Guwahati and which is the largest in India.Types of Tea Grown in Dibrugarh
Nowadays, there are organic tea farms too in Dibrugarh! Tea produced here is green, oolong and black depending upon their processing and oxidation.
Oolong tea: Oolong tea is partially oxidized during processing. It is somewhere between green tea and black tea.
Black tea: Black tea is a highly consumed tea. They are also highest in caffeine. It is also used for preparing iced tea and English tea. Black tea can be of two types --- CTC tea and Orthodox tea.
Dibrugarh is aiding in earning foreign exchange from tea exports. The tea estates in Dibrugarh will always maintain their green sheen due to hard working tea pickers and good quality tea. The closure of a few tea estates or falling prices of tea won't have any adverse impact on tea plantations in Dibrugarh.