Darjeeling Tea Estate Experience

Kathmandu → Darjeeling

Highlights

• Live on a heritage tea estate, learn the art of tea tasting, and understand why Darjeeling is called the Champagne of Teas.
• Culinary Tour · 5 Days
• Small group, guide-led

Day-by-day itinerary

1. D1

   Arrival & Estate Orientation

   Arrive at Glenburn or a similar heritage tea estate. Your host — often a descendant of the original planting family — welcomes you with afternoon tea and explains the estate's history. Evening walk through the tea fields as the mist rolls in from the Kanchenjunga range.

   Darjeeling As per plan

2. D2

   Plucking to Cup: The Tea Process

   Rise at dawn to join tea pluckers in the fields, learning the 'two leaves and a bud' standard that defines quality. Follow the fresh leaves to the factory to see withering (air-drying), rolling (breaking cell walls), oxidizing (the chemical transformation that creates flavor), and firing (halting oxidation with heat). Taste tea at each stage of processing.

   Darjeeling As per plan

3. D3

   Tea Tasting Masterclass

   Learn professional tea tasting — the slurp, the swish, the spit. Your instructor explains how to evaluate liquor color, aroma, body, and astringency. Blind-taste first flush (spring), second flush (summer, with the prized muscatel flavor), autumnal, and green Darjeelings. Receive a personalized tasting journal.

   Darjeeling As per plan

4. D4

   Tea Worker Village & Culture

   Visit the tea workers' village to understand the human side of the industry. Meet a third-generation tea plucker who shares stories of life on the estate. Learn to cook traditional Nepali dishes using estate-grown vegetables. Evening cultural program of Nepali folk songs and dances.

   Darjeeling As per plan

5. D5

   Sunrise at Tiger Hill & Departure

   Pre-dawn drive to Tiger Hill for sunrise over Kanchenjunga (world's third-highest peak) and, on clear days, Everest. Final tea tasting and shopping at Nathmulls, Darjeeling's oldest tea shop. Transfer to Bagdogra airport.

   Darjeeling As per plan

Price includes

• Local storyteller guide
• Stays as per itinerary
• Daily breakfast
• All ground transfers

Make it yours (upsells)

Everything apart from the trip itself is an upsell — tick what you want.