Anamika has literally grown up among the tea leaves and buds.
A white bench just where the road bends, engulfed in verdurous serenity on all sides, icy mountain peaks in the distance and foamy clouds above… it is one of the most peaceful places. This isn’t me imagining things; this place exists for real. My friend Anamika Singh’s tea estate in Dharamsala is a living painting, a painting which you can walk into and be part of.
It was Anamika who actually helped me fulfill my dream of visiting Dharamsala. Apart from the scenic beauty and a strong desire to meet His Holiness The Dalai Lama, it was the Tibetan influence on the food there that I wanted to study. Meeting Anamika and a potential visit to her tea estate acted as a huge catalyst in finally making the trip. Her father being in the tea industry for several years now, Anamika has literally grown up among the tea leaves and buds. She now has her own brand called Anandini Himalayan
Tea and does several tea-tasting and ‘Tea & Food Pairing’ workshops. For me, she turned out to be a treasure trove of information! Apart from showing me around her tea estate, she explained to me in detail the process of tea making, right from how its grown in the estate, how it is taken to the factory and processed, to how it finally ends up in our cups.
Only an expert can differentiate between the various kinds of teas.
The most memorable part of the trip was the “tea” (“not, never chai!” says Anamika) that she herself brewed for me right there in the middle of the estate. It was one of her blends and before making it, she asked me to taste the ingredients that had gone into this particular blend – chamomile and rose hip. While I was familiar with chamomile, I was quite surprised at how the rose hip tasted. It was a little tangy and quite sharp.
A little bonfire was put up on which a kettle of water was heated. Little tea-flavoured clouds rose right up into the blue skies. Anamika then showed me the process of brewing a perfect cup of tea. “You don’t boil the water. Heat it just so that it starts to form tiny bubbles at the sides. Its always better to pour the hot water over the leaves instead of adding leaves to the water”, she told me while demonstrating exactly how to do it. She had these tiny sand timers, one of which she inverted now. It is necessary to time how long your tea leaves are immersed in the water. If its too light, you won’t taste it at all.
Too strong, it is likely to kill the true flavour and aroma of the tea. At first, I didn’t notice it. But as I slowly sipped, I began to taste the chamomile and just a hint of rose hip in the tea, not sharp at all but very subtle and refresing. No milk, no sugar, no masala. It was wonderful as it was.
I realized that like wine-tasting, tea-tasting is also a fine art. Only an expert can differentiate between the various kinds and grades of teas. Anamika, for example, can take a sip and tell you from which tea estate in which part of the country the leaves were plucked!
Having tasted all her tea blends, I now understand that “tea” as we know it, is not the real thing. Its subtle yet unmistakable flavour and aroma is something that requires a refined palate. What Anamika says is true – tea is tea. It’s not, never chai!
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