Healthy Tea: A Well Kept Secret!

Villagers of Gairsen harvest naturally growing tea in wild forest land.

In Gairsen where Luxmi lives, the villagers never have to buy packaged tea. This is because there is a large area of wild forest land nearby, and amongst the trees, tea plants grow naturally. The family who owns this land lives in Delhi and has allowed the villagers to harvest and drink the tea for free, on the condition that they don’t sell it. It is rare and refreshing to hear of such generosity on the part of wealthy landowners, says Luxmi, who believes that the family might one day want to use the land for something else, but are now content to let the villagers benefit.

In the meantime, the tea is harvested twice a year by the community members, and Luxmi says most households in her neighbourhood including hers, stock enough tea to last them the whole year. They often give it to relatives and friends from other areas, as a token gift from their village. The harvesting is done under the supervision of a committee elected by the community, and each family takes what it needs.

Being completely organic, the tea is comparatively much purer and healthier than what can be bought in shops. Luxmi says that previously, her community members used to all grow their own tea. But now that Uttarakhand produces tea commercially on a large scale, most people just buy packets of tea from the shops. Luxmi feels that everyone in her state should make use of the fertile land and farming-friendly seasonal weather to begin growing tea in their own garden again – not only is it cheaper, but much healthier too.

Luxmi Nautiyal
I am VV’s community correspondent from the beautiful hilly regions of Garwhal in the newly formed state of Uttrakhand. I am passionate about issues related to the environment and education and have made videos on environmental degradation, traditional energy systems and child rights. I am studying to get a degree in mass communication and am also associated with a local women’s organization.

Luxmi Nautiyal has produced 27 stories for us.

One Response to “Healthy Tea: A Well Kept Secret!”

1. Rajendra P Gurung says:

   January 7, 2011 at 3:17 pm

   Hello Luxmi,
   It was interesting to watch your video and learn about a type of organic tea different from the packaged ones in the market. What was heartening was the way the whole community had evolved a system of amicably sharing and protecting this tea with the benevolence of the land owners.
   Talking about tea on a technical level ( I come from an area famous for its Darjeeling and Sikkim teas) – what I could conclude was that the tea bushes were part of an abandoned tea growing area and have over the years become overrun by forest and having also regenerated new bushes from fallen seed – very natural and very organic! (You should research how the tea bushes evolved there)
   The way the villagers are harvesting and processing the tea is very crude – tho well adapted to their situation. Proper pruning of the bushes could bring about multiple plucking instead of the two only crops at present. Selective plucking (they are plucking any type of leaf)and proper withering, handrolling, fermenting and roasting will bring about much better quality. Of course you have the problem of permission from theland owners. New tea plants can be grown from seed collected from the taller bushes. It is possible for farmers to organise themselves into small growers co-operatives for growing and marketing organic tea using natural manures and mulches on their own land. Since you have expressed a desire to spread the organic tea growing concept – check out Organic Ekta at http://www.mercycorps.org/wheremostneeded You need to develop the Gairsen secret into a bigger idea! Let me know if you need further help