Notes from the Lab: Tea Season Kickoff

Just as November in Paris is alight with the celebration of Beaujolais nouveau, the freshest wine released from each vintage, the lab at Smith Teamaker is abuzz with the excitement of Darjeeling First Flush season as March rolls around. Widely regarded as the kickoff of tea season, it’s appropriate that these bright and fresh Darjeelings are known as the champagne of teas.

After a long, dormant winter, the tea bushes high in the Himalayas have begun their first flushing of young tea leaves that are destined for the cupping tables of tea companies around the world. There is a flurry of pluckers darning their bamboo baskets, production technicians cleaning the withering troughs and igniting the dryers for the first time in months, and the cupping tables in Kolkata getting cleared of papers as they await the sheer volume of samples soon to be headed their way. It’s electric. Across the world, we feel it all the same.

By late March and early April our partners have begun sending us samples for evaluation. It’s a highly selective process since we choose just two or three lots each year. It’s equally competitive, as the same teas are flown to many tea buyers around the globe and only one earns each coveted lot. We buy one for our self-drinker – the name we give the special tea that will be served on its own and never blended – along with teas that will be artfully blended with Second Flush Darjeeling in Steve’s favorite blend, Bungalow. This season, we were delighted by the quality of the teas we received and selected three teas from three different gardens to round out our portfolio. The most special amongst the teas on the table was the first plucking from the Tumsong Estate that is destined to be our Teamaker’s Choice offering, releasing next month. 

Keep an eye out for this exceptional tea and more news about how tea season is shaping up for 2026.