2022
Hello
It’s my great pleasure to inform all of my friends, that we have just completed our “Tea Garden Meet-up” under the category “Photo walk” has finished with a grand success. I hope this meet-up will help to enhance friendship between both country Nepal and India .I just like to thanks to Mr Subhash Shrestha from Rungamattee,West Bengal, India that he has given and helped us to complete this Meet-up successfully. Friends from both country would like to heartily thanks for his great contribution
The history of tea is long and complex, spreading .Drinking tea became popular in Britain during the 17th century. The British introduced tea production, as well as tea consumption, to India, So we considered to show and tell more about TEA GARDEN in our Meet-up.
As all friends knows we reached Meet-up spot on 19th November 2017 ,fortunately we have got a chance to meet Subash Shrestha with full of energy. Along with Shova Khadka ,we both went different places .Specially we got a chance to visit different “TEA GARDEN” within Jalpaiguri District.
On 22nd November, we all of met in Chaibasa ,Rangamati Tea Garden .First of all we introduce each other and share our ideas. We also discussed about to participate in the Marriage Ceremony. We taken food and snakes together. Most of us we have camera as we mention in our notification.
After , have a long conversation and discussion we have decided to take photos and divide in three groups. We already had the banner of “ Mid Nepal Local Guides” along with us. At the beginning ,with the help some friends we took photos. After that our “photo –walk”started.With the help of our camera our journey had started to visit different Tea Garden.
We visited a number of tea gardens in Jalpaiguri like Rungamattee Tea Garden, sylee Tea Garden, Oodlabari Tea Garden, Ranichera Tea Garden, Upper Fagu Tea Garden, Meenglas Tea Garden, Looksun Tea Garden, GhatiaTea Garden, Lakhipara Tea Garden and so on.
Some of the Tea Gardens we visited include:
Phuskowa Tea Garden - Situated on the outskirts of the Buxa Tiger Reserve and the nearby Rydak River, this is an attractive place for tea tourism. In 1897, the British Duncan brothers started this garden which was later transferred to Chamaria family or the present owners of this picturesque garden. It has 660 acres of plantation area producing high quality tea of both Orthodox and CTC leaves. The adjacent bungalow situated on a hillock is a luxurious accommodation for tourists.
Oodlabari Tea Gardens- This place deserves mention among famous tea gardens as it produces some of the finest green tea in the Dooars region.
Ranichira Tea Gardens- This is historically one of the major regions of tea cultivation since British rule and known mainly for its tea gardens. The workforce is primarily tribal people.
Zurrantee Tea Garden- the Zurrantee Tea Garden is also ideally located. Driving for 3 hrs from the Bagdogra airport will take you to Zurrantee through Chalsa in central Dooars. As it is located centrally, it has access to other important tourist destinations like Murti, Gorumara National Park, Bindu, Samsing, Jaldhaka Hydro Project and sojourn points for going to Darjeeling or Gangtok. It also has a magnificent British Bungalow.
All the Tea Gardens are full of Green tea plants and green tress. These tea gardens are a must place for sightseeing. The beautiful, never ending tea gardens are also supplemented by the snow-capped peaks of the Kanchenjunga which are visible from here. This remains one of the ultimate tea tourism destinations in the Dooars region. Situated in a picturesque landscape with low hills which are adorned with tea bushes. Most of the tea garden are visited by many tourists because of its convenient location as the nearest tea garden to Jalpaiguri city.
After having a long journey we ended our “Tea Garden Meet-up” as its designated schedule.
The history of “TEA” is long and complex, spreading .Drinking tea became popular in Britain during the 17th century. The British introduced tea production, as well as tea consumption, to India,
Jalpaiguri district presents to the nature lover a mesmerizing landscape of lush green, rolling slopes of tea gardens which will surely revitalize the spirit. The tea gardens, some of which are located in the city’s outskirts will take through a fascinating journey of understanding the culture and history behind everyday beverage. Whether or not you are a tea drinker, living a few days in the close proximity of the Dooars tea gardens will help to understand the tea plantations with socio-cultural complexities.
Rungamuttee Tea Estate, located on the northern side of NH31 at 600 feet above sea level, derives its name from ‘rung’ meaning red and ‘muttee’ meaning soil. In the year 1850, tea cultivation was introduced in Darjeeling and it found its way to Dooars in 1862. This estate dates back to 1866 when tea seeds sourced from Assam were first planted in the Ranikhola division which is also the oldest division of the estate.
Rungamattee Tea Estate is one of the oldest tea manufacturers in West Bengal. They have four top estates (Upper Assam, Cachar, Darjeeling and Dooars) in the major tea growing areas of the country, and they have their own factories in each estate. They have historically been known to produce some of the finest teas year after year. Most of their teas are sold in consumer packs in the domestic market. The best of Their Darjeelings and Assams produce are exported to Germany, Japan and the UK. They also have local offices in major centres throughout the country
The estate community comprises of different ethnic tribes from Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Nepal and Ranchi. At present it is mainly inhabited by the Adivasis and the Nepalis. The RK and SF divisions comprise mostly of the Adivasi population while majority of the Nepalis reside in CB and NSF divisions.
Plantation Stats of Rungamattee Tea Estate
Mature tea area 745.37 hectares
Immature tea area 22.63 hectares
Area under green crop 11.63 hectares
Total tea area 779.63 hectares
Annual production of CTC tea 16 lakh kg
Vp nursery 4.22 hectares
Area under bamboo/fuel bari 43.39 hectares
Land requisitioned by army/ongc 107.51 hectares
Land leased out to shopkeeper .26 hectares
Keth land 260.96 hectares
Building & unsuitable land 231.80 hectares
Total Tea Production 14.94 lakh Kilograms
Total estate area 1427.77 hectares
Kapurkhana is a the historic place which was founded by the British Government( East Indian Company).in 1935.
