Assam Borengajulie

Deep in the jungles that grow along the banks of the Brahmaputra, within clear eyeshot of the Himalayas, lies fabled Borengajuli Estate. Borengajuli has long been the talk of the Assam tea trade, and not just because of its picture perfect surroundings, exceptional air and stunning colonial era bungalows, although these certainly don’t hurt its reputation. Rather, Borengajuli made its name via the outstanding tea it produces, the result of a painstaking “natural cloning” process. Some time ago, the nuance and malted character of the resulting teas were considered so fine that Borengajuli was chosen to participate in the pilot project to vacuum pack teas at the Estate level. We’ll examine both the natural cloning and vac-pack process below.

Ask any of the planters at any of the clubs from Guwahati to Pertabghur and they’ll tell you the same thing. Borengajuli’s teas are almost perfect. It wasn’t always so. Many years ago, plucky Estate managers began selecting the finest plants the gardens had to offer. They looked for bushes with higher yields, an abundance of “tip”, superb flavor and better resistance to drought and pests. These bushes were placed in a special nursery and over time, cuttings were made that were nurtured and replanted in the gardens. Gradually, as more and more cuttings grew into full bushes, the estate filled with these “perfect” tea bushes. As a result, Borengajuli is one of the highest yielding estates in terms of exceptional, luxury grade teas. (Note: genetic modification is not a part of the natural cloning process.)

Now the vacuum packing. Evidently, so impressed were Borengajuli’s upper managers with the Estate’s flavory bright copper cup, that when the time came to experiment with new vacuum packing technology, it was naturally chosen. The general thinking at the time was, if we’re going to go out of our way to preserve flavor with a vacuum, we might as well preserve the very best. The technique involved vacuum sealing the leaf immediately after it came out of the sorter. The result was tea that stayed as fresh as the moment it was manufactured, indefinitely. The process was such a success that it is now followed in the manufacture of all of our Estate teas.

We’re proud to offer this fabulous, deeply malted, Assam. We trust that when you open the bag you’ll find the tea extremely rich on the nose and flavorful in the cup. (It should be, it’s only been exposed to oxygen for about two hours.)

Hot tea brewing method : Bring freshly drawn cold water to a rolling boil. Place 1 teaspoon of tea for each cup into the teapot. Pour the boiling water into the teapot. Cover and let steep for 3-7 minutes according to taste (the longer the steeping time the stronger the tea). Even though milk and a dash of sugar help capture the malty character of this tea, it is perfectly acceptable to consume this tea ‘straight-up’.

Iced tea brewing method : (To make 1 liter/quart): Place 6 teaspoons of tea into a teapot or heat resistant pitcher. Pour 1 1/4 cups of freshly boiled water over the tea. Steep tea for 5 minutes. Quarter fill a serving pitcher with cold water. Pour the tea into your serving pitcher straining the leaves. Add ice and top-up the pitcher with cold water. Garnish and sweeten to taste. [A rule of thumb when preparing fresh brewed iced tea is to double the strength of hot tea since it will be poured over ice and diluted with cold water]. Please note that this tea may tend to go cloudy or ‘milky’ when poured over ice; a perfectly normal characteristic of some high quality black teas and nothing to worry about!