Grüner Tee aus Darjeeling?

 

Ich habe mir einmal überlegt, warum ich in der Vergangenheit viel weniger schwarzen Tee als grünen Tee getrunken habe. Dafür fielen mir zwei wesentliche Gründe ein. Der erste hat sicherlich mit meinem Studium in Taiwan zu tun, denn da hatte ich mir angewöhnt, Oolung Tee, Jasmintee oder grünen Tee zu trinken. Aber es gab später auch noch einen weiteren Grund. Ich habe oftmals Tee aufgesetzt und dann kam mir eine Idee und dann ging ich dieser Idee nach, schlug irgendwo etwas nach und schnell waren da 10-20 Minuten vergangen, aber dann war der Tee nicht mehr trinkbar, jedenfalls der schwarze Tee. Das passiert einem mit grünen Tee eher nicht. Und ich halte nicht sehr viel vom Samowar-Tee, denn ähnlich hätte ich ja mit dem zu lange gezogenen Schwarztee auch noch umgehen können; oder ihn aufwärmen in einer Mikrowelle, die es aber in der Zeit, wo ich mich eher für grünen Tee entschieden hatte, noch nicht gab, jedenfalls nicht in unserer Familie oder in meinem Haushalt. Jetzt aber komme ich aus Darjeeling und den anderen Teegebieten im Himalaya zurück und habe auch Schwarztee mitgebracht, aber auch neue Erkenntnisse. Und die will ich hier einmal aufarbeiten.

Ich hatte bereits vor einigen Jahren einen grünen Tee aus Darjeeling getrunken und dachte eher, das wäre eine Kuriosität, obwohl er mir sehr gut geschmeckt hatte. Ich bin aber eines Besseren belehrt worden, der Tee in Darjeeling oder insgesamt der Hochlandregion ist einfach durch die klimatischen Bedingungen ein sehr guter Tee, der sich für alle möglichen Sorten eignet. Und ich habe diesmal gelernt, daß sich Assam und Darjeeling Tees bzw. Hochlandtees nicht nur in der Blattgröße und in der Zusammensetzung der phytochemischen Stoffe unterscheiden, sondern insbesondere unterscheiden sich die Verarbeitungsmethoden. Die sogenannte orthodoxe Herstellung des Darjeeling Tees liegt viel näher an der Herstellung von chinesischen Tees. Dies hatte ich ich Nepal erfahren, denn Nepal produziert einerseits orthodoxen Tee, der nach der in Darjeeling verwendete Methoden verarbeitet wird, bei der die Teeblätter gerollt werden (entweder von Hand oder maschinell), oder die in Assam verwendete Methode, die als Crush, Tear, Curl (CTC) bezeichnet wird [1].

Ich habe gerade die Passagen in der Bibel für Teekenner nachgelesen [2]. Bereits 1827 hat der damals bekannte Botaniker Dr. J. Forbes Roylc darauf gedrängt, aus China Teepflanzen in das Gebiet im nordwestlichen Himalaya zu bringen. Die Einführung von Tee in Indien hatte  Rückschläge eizustecken, so experimentierte der Chirurg Dr. Christie in den Nilgiri-Hügeln mit dem Anbau von Tee, Kaffee und Maulbeeren, aber er ist bald verstorben und mit ihm diese Experimente. 1838 kam der erste Tee aus Indien in Großbritannien an und es wurde über die über die Herstellung des schwarzen Tees berichtet, wie sie von Chinesen durchgeführt wurde, die extra dazu nach Suddeya in Assam geholt worden waren. In Darjeeling begannen die Teeprojekte in den 1850iger Jahren, William Ukers nennt explizit die Jahre 1856-1859. Über Darjeeling schwärmt er: „Darjeeling. – Der romantischste und interessantes Teedistrikt in ganz Indien, Darjeeling liegt eingezwängt zwischen Nepal, Sikkim, und Bhutan – drei verbotene Königreiche. Die Teegärten liegen praktisch alle direkt vor Ort in dem Teil des Bezirks, der westlich des Teesta Flusses liegt, ein Gebiet bestehend aus einem System von Gebirgskämmen und Ausläufern mit tiefen Tälern dazwischen.“

Ukers geht zu den Unterschieden der Verarbeitung ein, die schon beim Welken der Blätter vorhanden sind. Es handelt sich um die klimatischen Bedingungen, die sich von Assam zu Dooars und erst recht zum Hochland unterscheiden. Mir fehlt das Wissen, um zu entscheiden, in wie weit das unter heutigen Produktionsbedingungen noch so ist. Vielleicht ja. Aber ich will wieder zum Thema Grüntee zurückkehren.

Grüner Tee wurde auch in Europa vor dem schwarzen Tee getrunken. Und so wurde Schwarztee auch erst später produziert. In den 1930iger Jahren wurde nur noch „in Kangra, Travancore, Sylhet, Dehra Dun, Ranchi, Cachar, Nilgiris, Chittagong, Mysore, Almora, Malabar, Garhwal und Tinnevelly – benannt in der Reihenfolge der Menge – grüner Tee“ produziert. Da wurde Darjeeling nicht genannt!

Welche Hypothesen könnte man entwickeln, um zu erklären, warum in der Himalaya Region bzw. konkret in Darjeeling grüner Tee produziert wird?
Hypothese 1: Der gestiegene Bedarf nach polyphenolreichem, gesunden, grünen Tee im Westen ist Anreiz, diesen zu produzieren, da der Schwarztee der Region ein Begriff ist, aber weniger Catechine als Grüntee enthält.
Hypothese 2: Man hofft auf Exporte nach Ostasien.
Hypothese 3: Grüntee stellt ein hervorragendes Souvenir für Touristen aus z.B. China dar, weshalb man auch chinesische Schrift an Teeläden sehen kann.
Hypothese 4: Nicht in dem verharren, was man schon immer gemacht hat und sich weiter entwickeln, also die Produktpalette erweitern.

Wie dem auch sei, Grüntee aus Darjeeling bzw. auch aus Sikkim oder Nepal stellen eine Alternative dar.

Links und Anmerkungen:
[1] https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2023/04/travelling-through-tea-estates-in.html
[2] William H. Ukers, All About Tea, 2 vol. (1935) – ich habe dieses Buch in den 1970iger Jahren einmal über die Fernleihe der UB Köln ausgeliehen. Mittlerweile ist es digitalisiert einsehbar: https://www.univie.ac.at/Geschichte/China-Bibliographie/blog/2018/03/22/ukers-all-about-tea/  

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Farbvierecke in religiösen Zusammenhängen

Ich bin von Farben und Farbnamen fasziniert und werde bald wieder einmal eine neue Aufstellung machen müssen, denn die letzte Fassung liegt schon zwei Jahre zurück [1]. Jetzt war zum ersten Mal in St. Vith (Belgien, deutschsprachiger Teil) und auch in der Pfarrkirche St. Vitus – ich hätte diese Fahrt schon viel früher machen müssen … Pfarrkirche und St. Vith muss einmal näher beschreiben. Aber im aktuellen Zusammenhang interessiert ein farbiger Hintergrund hinter einem Kreuz in nordöstlichen Seitenschiff. Es schien eine Arbeit einer Jugendgruppe zu sein (aber da kann ich mich auch irren), jedenfalls erinnerten mich die farbigen Vierecke an das Fenster von Gerhard Richter im Kölner Dom, das ich bislang apodiktisch abgelehnt hatte.

 

Beim Durchsehen der Fotos der letzten Reise, stolperte ich über zwei Fotos. Ein Foto stammt aus Bhutan und zeigt einen Kalender, der in farbige Vierecke unterteilt wurde. Ich hatte das auch schon in Tibet gesehen, aber die Fotografie damals war unscharf. Und ich hatte in Kathmandu Farbpulver entdeckt, das in viereckigen Behältern feil geboten wurde, es handelte sich um Pulver mit denen man andere Personen während des ausgelassenen Holi-Festes bewirft.

Das alles bewog mich nun, einmal diese Bilder nebeneinander zu stellen. Das Bild vom Punakha Dzong weist Strukturen auf, die mit vielleicht etwas mit Mondphasen, Wochen oder ähnlichen Dingen zu tun haben könnten. Das bild aus Nepal ist ohne einen besonderen Zusammenhang. Man kauf dort das Farbpulver in der Farbe, mit den man jemanden einfärben will. Das Bild aus der Pfarrkirche St. Vitus scheint auch zufällig zu sein. Das Gerhard Richter Fenster des südlichen Querhauses [2] besteht aus über 11.000 Einzelquadrate nach dem Zufallsprinzip. Tja, ich finde weiterhin, es paßt nicht zu den anderen Fenstern im Kölner Dom; andererseits, wenn ich das zum Standard erheben würde, dann müßten auch andere Fenster ausgetauscht werden.

Schon fern jeder Symbolik haben Religion und Farben eine enge Beziehung.

Links und Anmerkungen:
[1] https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2021/03/farben-und-farbnamen-version-50.html   
[2] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richter-Fenster

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Nachtrag:
Ich habe gerade noch ein Bild aus Ladakh gefunden:

 

Prayer Wheels and Prayer Flags

In the Himalaya region, prayer wheels and prayer flags are a common sight. Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim, West Bengal (Darjeeling), Bhutan, or Tibet. I've already written quite a lot about prayer flags [1]. The terms prayer wheels and prayer flags in Eglish (as well as in other languages like German) is misleading as there aren't prayers but rather mantras written on the flags or on slips of paper inside the wheels or drums to be send out into the world. The mantra most used is: Om mani padme hum, which might be translated as Om in the jewel of the lotus. Prayer flags and prayer wheels are used to spread mantras into all pervading space to promote the good will and compassion [2].

 
Is it very different to Europe? Yes and no. In rural areas you can see crosses being erected after some lucky occasion, but also to remind the passer-by to pray. There is such a field crucifix between the village I am living in (Diefenbach – pop. 70 and still growing) and the next village (Sistig) on a hillcock overlooking a landscape, which might also have attracted Hobbits. Whereas the prayer wheels and prayer flags send mantras into the surrounding world to all living beings, the cross is meant to reach humans only.

There are small, large and very large prayer wheels. The small ones have a handle, which the pilgrims turns. Prayer wheels are cylindrical wheels (Tibetan: འཁོར་ལོ།, Wylie: 'khor lo') on a spindle usually made from metal [4]. The mantra Om mani padme hum (and occasionally others) is written in Ranjana script or Tibetan script on the outside of the wheel. Inside there are many thousands (or in the case of larger prayer wheels even millions) of mantras, which are wrapped around the core of the cylinder. The pilgrim or practitioner usually spins the wheel clockwise, „as the direction in which the mantras are written is that of the movement of the sun across the sky“. Slightly larger prayer wheels as fixed around temples or monasteries, where the pilgrims circle clockwise and turn the wheels; this circumambulation is called kora (Tibetan: སྐོར་ར, Wylie: skor ra). If you visit Buddhist temples in the Himalaya region you should respect this custom; anything you visit, do it clockwise.
The very large prayer wheels (larger than humans) have separate rooms or are in the open under a roof, and can be set in motion by the pilgrims. Often you might see elderly people sitting next to these large prayer and constantly turning them. A bell sounds as soon as one round of the wheel is completed.

And there are prayer wheels, which are not turned by humans but by flowing water, wind, the heat of candles or butter lamps, and nowadays even electric light. The water will be a blessing to all living creatures in the water as well as the ones living in the fields that are watered by this stream.

Someone setting up prayer wheels or prayer flags wants of course to gain positive karma, but there is an altruistic motive as well -: to promote peace, compassion, strength, and wisdom to all living beings.

Links and Annotations:
[1] Prayer Flags in Bhutan (recent blogpost) https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2023/04/pray-flags-in-bhutan.html and Prayer Flags (in Tibet) https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2018/08/prayer-flags.html and Maibaum und Gebetsfahnen (Maypole and prayer flags) Text in German https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2021/05/maibaum-und-gebetsfahnen.html  
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer_wheel 
[3] Feldkruzifix Em Lengsche zwischen Sistig und Diefenbach
[Translation: Field crucifix Em Lengsche between Sistig and Diefenbach
Today we would write something like: “Anno 1694, October 20th, Pastor Meyer [with] Katharina (Katharein), his housewife, together with the honorary cantors of Sistig, had erected this cross to the glory of God and Mary. Amen."]
https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2020/08/feldkruzifix-em-lengsche-zwischen.html
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer_wheel

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Hanuman Dhoka Durbar Square in Kathmandu

During my current sojourn in Nepal I also visited the Hanuman Dhoka Durbar Square in Kathmandu. I wasn't even sure if I had visited this Durbar 25 years ago. My memories of Bhaktapur were much clearer, much more vivid. But I was able to trace it back at Kal Bhairav, the great statue of Shiva. I remembered that statue and then the other memories came back, too, and I wondered again, why I hadn't remembered that place straight away. I think it was the lack of vegetation on the roofs and I missed the holy bull that I had seen then. This time there were more people and even motorbikes came very close to the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 
There are palaces, temples, pagodas, shrines, both of hinduist and buddhist origin, to be seen. In Nepal one sees lots of emminent buddhist buildings, but the majority of the inhabitants are hinduists. Kings were crowned in this area and the Durbar Squre had been the King's residence until the early 20th century. It is now a museum, open to the public. The name comes from the statue of Hanuman, a Hindu deity in the form of a monkey, at the entrance of the Royal Palace, established by King Pratap Malla in 1672 [1].

There are quite a lot of temples and a museum to be seen: Kumari Ghar, Kasthamandap (which suffered much by the 2015 earth quake), Shiv-Parvati Temple, Jagannath Temple ... or you forget about the names and just immerge yourself in the architecture, art, temple carvings, and multicolored life of the durbar [2].

Links and Annotations:
[1] Leaflet by Kathmandu Metropolitan City, but the website https://kathmandu.gov.np/ hasn't been helpful.
[2] And you can still read more at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanuman_Dhoka

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Funeral Rites at the Ghats at Pashupatinath in Nepal

 

A note of warning and advice:
If you feel agitated by reading about funeral rites, please do not read further. Pictures of the rites will not show naked parts of corpses, which I have blurred, not only for your protection, but also not to display the diseased person.

I have thought for a long time whether I should write about the funeral rites in Pashupatinath, in particular whether I can show photos of them, because there are corpses to be seen. But I think I've found a compromise that allows me to report on this important issue that has been on my mind for over 25 years. I had made a trip to Tibet 25 years ago that started in Nepal and also ended in Nepal and we visited Pashupatinath. There we saw funeral pyres that had fascinated me since then. But there were also disconcerting aspects, such as little boys scampering through the mourners to jump  into the river further up, letting the current carry them downstreams, then coming out of the water below the mourners and then back running through the group of mourners. This did not bother the mourners, because they continued to perform their rites to honor the dead. After that, the burning of the pyre was carried out. We didn't go to opposite of the Pashupatinath Temple at the time, because my friends were too agitated to see the cremation. However, one of the friends later wrote a book titled: Why I am immortal (translation). This time I've been able to see more and do more research and so I want to share this experience, because I think it's very important. I've been interested in burial rites for a long time, not just the funeral customs of peoples outside Europe but also those in Europe and especially in Germany.

Entrance at the other side

I would like to start talking about the Pashupatinath Temple and interestingly the German Wikipedia article is a much better source than the English article for this purpose [1]. Pashupatinath means „Lord of Life“ or „Lord of the Living“ and is located about 5 kilometers east of Kathmandu's  center. The Hindu temple is one of the most important places of worship for Shiva and thousands of Hindus travel there every year. But it is also the place where the cremations take place, below at the ghats. The sanctuary itself was classified  as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979.

The emergence of Hinduism is dated to 1,200 BC; that means ample time to the development of many traditional rites, especially for honoring or burying the dead [2]. According to Hindu belief, man, like all matter, consists of five basic elements (the Panchamahabhutas - pancha means five, which is why we also know the punch, which originally consisted of five ingredients), which have the properties of earth (pritvi), water (jala), fire (tejas), wind (vayu) and space (akasha). For the Hindu, death means liberation and passage into a new existence – reincarnation – for which personal karma, made up of positive and negative actions, is decisive. The funeral rituals support this. However, attaining a better reincarnation is only an interim goal; the real goal is moksha, liberation from the long chain of incarnations.
In Hinduism, every living being has an immortal self (atman), often translated, not entirely incorrectly, as soul. The atman refers to pure consciousness or witness consciousness, beyond identification with phenomena [3]. With the cleansing of the body comes the cleansing of the soul. Water, milk, and ghee (clarified butter) are used. A five-time circumambulation of the corpse is also performed. According to tradition, the fire is lit by the firstborn son.
When the corpse is half or completely burned. st, one should split the skull; among the Grihashtas (housekeepers) with a log and the ascetics with a coconut. After opening the Brahmarhandhra orifice in this way,  sacrificesare made with e.g. ghee. I haven't seen it myself, maybe just not being there at the right time or the practice has been abandoned. However, Sannyassins may be handed over to the floods unburned (this is meant to be done at the Ganges) or buried. Srila Prabhupada, the Founder Acharya of the Hare Krsna movement, was buried seated in the earth, first covered in sugar [4]. But this is just meant as a small digression.
After the fire has burned out, often after three days, the ashes are then strewn into the river – in this case the Bagmati River, though a wonder whether the three day interval still is feasable with so many people being cremated there. A burial in the ground is possible in principle, but unusual at Pashupatinath. Until 1829, women were immolating themselves with their deceased husbands; however, this ritual has been forbidden [5].

The cremation sites, the Arya Ghats (higher caste cremation sites) and the Surya Ghats (lower caste cremation sites) are on the right bank of the Bagmati River together with the Pashupatinath Temple.
The corpse is usually wrapped in yellow cloth, carried to the ghat and cleansed (feet and face), then offerings are made and afterwards carried to the cremation site, where a pyre has been built, on which the corpse is laid. The firstborn son lits the pyre as already mentioned. Family and friends watch, sometimes from a distance. After about four hours, the body is burned to ashes. The ash and incompletely burned logs are thrown into the river, with unburned jewelry etc. being removed from the ashes beforehand. The river seemed very muddy to me – just weeks before the rainy season.

Shortly after igniting the pyre - 25 years ago

Pyre burning down - 25 years ago

Pyre burning - April 2023

Mourners and purification rites

Bamboo stretchers are prepared to be burned

A closer look at purification rites - the white fluid is milk

On the bamboo stretcher to the funeral pyre

Another group of mourner - this time the diseased person had been in the
security business and the colleagues give the last goodbye

Links and Annotations:
[1] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pashupatinath  
[2] https://www.tod-und-glaube.de/die-bestattungskultur-des-hinduismus/ and https://www.pietaet-am-dornbusch.de/  
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%80tman_(Hinduism)
[4] Be advised that this video goes far beyond the pictures I show here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXmRMqDbSvo
[5] But such a ritual would prevent young, pretty women from marrying old geezers – not seriously. The ritual has been rightfully abolished. And I guess that more women were immolated instead of having immolated themselves.
 
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Travelling through Tea Estates in Dooars, Darjeeling, Sikkim, and Nepal

 

The titel „Travelling through Tea Estates in West Bengal, Darjeeling, Sikkim and Nepal“ isn't totally correct, but in all these districts or countries tea is a big topic and one might hear more about Dooars (or Assam by the way as it isn't out of the way) and Darjeeling than the rest. I have already written about a tea estate in Darjeeling [1] and have translated some fragments of this text, but the former blogpost had another intention, it is devoted to the topic of tea and I have written extensively about tea, more so on Chinese tea in German on my blog. This article however will be devoted to travelling through this region and tea.

You are hardly out of the airport in Bagdogra, a small town in West Bengal, and you drive through tea plantations. Bagdogra roughly has 25,000 inhabitants and belongs to the Dooars region. The airport (IXB) is the gateway to the hill stations like Gangtok, Kurseong, Darjeeling, or Kalimpong. Dooars is not to be confused with Assam. The Dooars tea growing area is located South of  Darjeeling and west of Assam. Tea processing is comparable to Darjeeling teas, but the teas of Dooars are stronger and more flavorful, on the other hand they are milder than Assam teas (and in Assam more tea is processed according to the CTC method). Due to the lower altitude first flush harvests in Dooars begin earlier than in Darjeeling or Sikkim. Later on my journey I passed even through larger platation – on the Sikkim to Bhutan stretch. Tea may be quite expensive, especially when it comes to Darjeeling teas, but Dooars might be an alternative – maybe Sikkim teas, too.

I visited the Happy Valley Tea Estate in Darjeeling, which is the closest one to the city center and also is very old, still producing tea. The state maintains a museum, where old equipment can be seen and where you can also taste the different types of tea. I later noticed that the plantation could be seen across town from my hotel.
Established in 1854, the core of Happy Valley is Darjeeling's second oldest tea plantation. It lies at an altitude of approximately 2,100 meters and covers over 177 hectares; more than 1500 employees are employed there. The tea bushes are up to 150 years old. The months of March to May are the most active time, because then most of the tea leaves are picked and processed [2].
The Englishman David Wilson called the tea garden "Wilson Tea Estate". In 1903 the estate was taken over by Tarapada Banerjee, an Indian aristocrat from Hooghly/Hugli (district in West Bengal state). In 1929 Banerjee bought the nearby Windsor Tea Estate and merged the two lands under the name of „Happy Valley Tea Estate“ [3].
In March 2007, S.K. Bansal's estate was taken over by the Ambootia Tea Group, which built a new factory and, in particular, switched to organic farming. The plantation has been open to the public again since 2008. At the time, Happy Valley's (hand-rolled) tea was trading at Harrods in the UK at US$75 per kg.

The specialization in black or green tea no longer exists. These modern plantations are able to produce all sorts, although I would like to give a foreshadowing: I liked the green tea the best. I tested all the sorts they had, but haven't been allowed to take pictures. But I show you one, which I've made in Gangtok (Sikkim) on a similar occasion. For more on the different teas, please refer to the footnote [4]. As teas of the Himalaya-Region might be very expensive, you have to choose well. No matter how expensive or exclusive the tea is, the most important thing about tea is -: enjoying its taste in peace.

As the sun is hot and the tea pickers have to spend hours in the open, I've seen some with umbrellas fixed to the baskets on their back. Even with conditions of the workers having improved, it still is hard labor and also this work is mentally straining.

Sikkim also has remarkable teas. They are also sold in Darjeeling. The region is equal in altitude and weather conditions and composition of the soil. Maybe these teas still are somewhat of an insider tip. But you will also have high end teas with high end prices – I've just seen Sikkim Temi First Flush („Passable tea for every day.“) at 219.00€ per 1kg [5].
In the pedestrian mall of Gangtok I saw various tea shops, visited some, but I was out in a downpour without proper protection and took refuge in a tea parlor to have a tea - wait and drink tea, which is the literal translation of the German idiom "Abwarten und Teetrinken" - just wait and see! In the wake of the downpour I returned to the hotel.

Darjeeling

Fresh leaves on the cut down tea plants

Tea plantation in the Dooars region

The trip ended in Nepal, in Kathmandu – I've never seen so many tea shops in my life and did not remember having seen so many shops 25 years before. Nepal produces tea, but in these shops they also sell teas from Darjeeling and Sikkim. Nepal pruduces orthodox tea, which uses the method used in Darjeeling in which the tea leaves are rolled (either by hand or machine) or the method used in Assam which is descriebd as crush, tear, curl (CTC) [6]. The tea leaves for orthodox teas are picked durng four flushes: First flush, Second flush, Monsoon flush, Autumn flush, the first begins in the fourth week of March and last ends at the end of November. I sampled some Nepali teas and they were tasty, but as I'm more used to drink green tea, you have to test for yourself. Straying from Darjeeling to Sikkim and Nepal is well worth the effort.

Let's close with a few words on Bhutanese tea. Bhutan has been the eminent reason for my trip. In Bhutan I have only seen herbal teas (better called herbal infusions) and no thea sinensis, but these teas exist in small quantities, produced by handwork. I found one the internet (it may be the only one!). Up till now they are more of an oddity, a collector might buy them, because they are rare on the market.
Bhutan Green Tea is an organic green tea, produced in Samdrupcholing [7], a small village near Trongsa, which I visited 23 years ago, but I don't recall having seen tea plants – I remember having seen hemp, hemp in huge quantities growing in the wild. Another source: „Amateurs of oddities will be served with this rare green tea from Bhutan. […]  In Samcholing village, 43 acres of land were dedicated to tea farming and a micro-factory was put in place to produce an average of 600 kg of fresh leaves each year. The only tea production in the country.“ [8] But who knows, what might evolve out of this modest beginning. Allow me to quote Mao Zedong: „A single spark can start a prairie fire“ (05.01.1930). Bhutan has a geography and topography similar to Darjeeling, so there might be a small scale tea industry in the future.

Kathmandu tea shops

Links and Annotations:
[1] https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2023/04/happy-valley-teeplantage-in-darjeeling.html  
[2] https://darjeeling.gov.in/tourist-place/happy-valley-tea-estate/  
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Valley_Tea_Estate Interestingly, William H. Ukers makes no mention of this venture. William H. Ukers: All About Tea, 2 vol. New York, The Tea and Coffee Trade Journal Company, 1935. https://china-bibliographie.univie.ac.at/2018/03/22/ukers-all-about-tea/  And the internet is silent about Tarapada Banerjee or one only "knows" that he was in 1903... (see above).
[4] White tea -: only the first, budding leaf is picked (the silver tip), steamed (to prevent any fermentation) and then dried.
Yellow tea -: I haven't seen it or can't remember it. In principle, it is even rarer than white tea because there is not so much demand, but it is also produced in Darjeeling. The process is more complicated as very little oxidation is allowed to take place. The tea leaves are stewed and then rolled in damp cloths to be dried a little later as white tea.
Green tea -: the top leaves are picked, the fermentation is stopped by heat (either steaming or roasting in a pan), then the tea is rolled and dried.
Oolong tea -: I also saw it in Sikkim. The tea leaves are shaken and slightly injured so that fermentation takes place, but must remain incomplete, i.e. it is broken off by rolling and drying. In my Sino affinity, however, I would prefer Oolong teas from Taiwan.
Black tea -: the tea leaves (two leaves and a bud) are rolled and allowed to oxidize completely (fermentation), then they are dried at very high temperatures. the different varieties result on the one hand from the time of picking (First Flush, Summer Tea, Monsoon Flush, Autumn Tea, also known as First Flush, In-betweens, Second Flush, Autumnals [4a]) and then from the grading in SFTGFOP1 (Special Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe 1st, highest grade), FTGFOP1 (Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe 1st), TGFOP (Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe), FOP (Flowery Orange Pekoe), OP (Orange Pekoe), P (Pekoe). The majority of Darjeeling teas are black teas.
[4a] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darjeeling_(Tee)
[5] https://www.puretea.de/sikkim-temi-first-flush-biotee.html
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepali_tea
[7] https://tasteofbhutan.com/product/bhutan-green-tea-loose-tea/
[8] https://camellia-sinensis.com/en/bhutan-samcholing/6433  

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Two Buddhist Monks at Nyatapola Temple in Bhaktapur

 

Nyatapola Temple in 1998

I've been to Taumadhi Square 25 years ago, sitting one the second floor of a tea house and watching  someone selling goats on the square or a theatre group playing for the public. And I also saw a Japanese zen buddhist monk coming down the stairs of Nyatapola Temple [1].

The Japanese monk coming down the stairs in 1998

Selling goats in 1998

A theatre play performed on Taumadhi Square - 1998

This year I returned to Taumadhi Square and was sitting and drinking tea on the second floor of  another café oberlooking the square. No one selling goats anymore. But people were busy preparing the floats for a yatra, maybe the Indra Yatra. A band manned and womened the  stairs of Nyatapola Temple. And there he was – the buddhist monk, but now it was one dressed in Tibetan style.

The Tibetan monk coming down the stairs

The band preparing to play

Preparing a float for the yatra

Links and Annotations:
[1] Nyatapola Temple is a hinduistic temple and also the tallest temple of Nepal. It has been built in 1702 and has survived all earthquakes including the one in April 2015 with a magnitude 7.8 on the Richter scale. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyatapola_Temple

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Wie das Khukuri Messer seinen Namen bekam - eine fast wahre Geschichte

 

Es begab sich zur Zeit des großen Konfliktes mit dem Nachbarland. Da war ein vom König geschätzter Gurkha [1] auf dem Hofe eines Landmanns und seiner Familie einquartiert. Nächtelang stand er an der Grenze Wache. Auf sein gekrümmtes Messer war er besonders stolz, so daß er es immerzu schärfte, bis es das schärfste Messer von allen Messern des Elite-Regiments war. Und nebenbei bemerkt, unser Gurkha war das schärfste Messer in der Schublade. Nun war es für ihn die erste Nacht ohne Wachdienst und in dieser wollte er sich etwas Schlaf gönnen. Aber es war auch eine mondhelle Nacht. Kaum hatte er sich auf sein Bett gelegt, da krähte der Hahn: „Khukuri, Khukuri, Khukuri!“ Nach einem kurzen Moment der Ruhe hörte der Gurkha erneut: „Khukuri, Khukuri, Khukuri!“ So ging es für eine Weile und der Gurkha konnte keinen Schlaf finden, denn immer wieder krähte der Hahn auf seinem Misthaufen: „Khukuri, Khukuri, Khukuri!“  Da nahm Gurkha sein Messer und ging hinaus. Erneut krähte es: „Khukuri, Khukuri, Khu-!“ Das Messer hatte den Hahnenschrei geschluckt. Da sagte der Gurkha laut zu sich selbst und zu seinem Messer: „Fürwahr du bist ein scharfes Messer. Und ich werde dich fürderhin Khukuri nennen.“ So hatte das berühmte Messer seinen Namen bekommen und schließlich haben alle Gurkhas ihre Messer Khukuri [2] genannt.

 

Anmerkungen:
[1] Gurkhas sind nepalesische Soldaten im Dienst zunächst der britischen Armee, dann aber auch verschiedener anderer Nationen. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurkha  
[2] Khukurī (Nepali: खुकुरी), wird häufig auch als Kukri oder Khukri bezeichnet. Die Kukri-Messer sind die Nahkampfwaffe der Gurkha-Truppen. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khukuri Ich habe erstmalig von ihnen in einem Artikel des STERN in den 1980iger Jahren gelesen; der Titel war „Das Imperium schlägt zurück“ (wie in der Star Wars Saga). Man berichtete, daß die argentinischen Soldaten die Gurkhas mit ihren Kukri-Messern fürchteten, da sie einen lautlosen Tod brachten.

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