Nilgiri Tea
The Blue Mountains sit in the path of both Indian monsoons, so Nilgiri is picked year-round rather than in flushes — fragrant, briskly balanced, and the tea blenders reach for when they need consistency.
12 months
picking season
- Botanical name
- Camellia sinensis
- Known as
- நீலகிரி தேயிலை
- Origin
- Nilgiris district
- Harvest
- January – December
Nilgiri tea comes from the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu, where cultivation began under the British East India Company around 1835. The region experiences two monsoons a year, and tea is grown and picked throughout it.
That changes what the crop is. There is no flush calendar to buy against and no scarcity story attached to a fortnight in spring — there is a continuous supply of a consistent leaf, which is precisely why blenders build on it.
The cup carries bold fruity and floral notes — dusk orchid, woody plum — held in a mild body. It takes milk without collapsing and it takes ice without going cloudy, which is why so much of it ends up in iced tea.
The Blue Mountains at 1,000–2,500 m, in the path of both the south-west and north-east monsoons. Frost in the coldest weeks concentrates the leaf and produces the winter 'frost teas' the district is quietly known for.
Measured
- Picking season
- Year-round
- Monsoons
- Two per year
- Cultivation since
- ≈ 1835
- Elevation
- ≈ 1,000 – 2,500 m
Grades we ship
- FOP
Flowery Orange Pekoe — whole leaf.
- BOP
Broken Orange Pekoe — the blending workhorse.
- FROST TEA
Winter pick, concentrated by cold.
Harvest window
- January — in harvest
- February — in harvest
- March — in harvest
- April — in harvest
- May — in harvest
- June — in harvest
- July — in harvest
- August — in harvest
- September — in harvest
- October — in harvest
- November — in harvest
- December — in harvest
January – December
Contracts placed against a coming harvest are priced at the yard once the crop lands, not before.
Forms
- Whole leaf
- Broken leaf
- Fannings
- Dust
Ships to
Russia
United Kingdom
UAE
United States
Australia