Tea planted in Darjeeling
A hill station acquired for its climate, planted with Chinese-variety tea at altitudes where the bush grows slowly, producing something that tasted like nothing else and was priced accordingly.
From the 1840s
A process, not a moment. This happened over a period rather than on a date, and the span is the honest answer.
TeaHQ synthesis. TeaHQ's own reading of well-attested general knowledge, with no single source behind it.
What happened
Experimental planting in the Darjeeling hills used Chinese-variety seed rather than the Assam variety, at altitudes between roughly 600 and 2000 metres. Commercial estates followed through the 1850s and 1860s, and a distinctive light, aromatic style emerged that had no counterpart in Assam or China.
Why it matters
It creates the first genuinely new tea style produced under colonial cultivation — not a copy of a Chinese tea and not an Assam plantation product. It also becomes the subject of one of the most litigated geographical indications in the food world, which is a direct consequence of how much its name is worth.
Connected events
What this touches
Producing countries
Culture and history
Compiled from published sources by people who are not historians of this region or period. Where accounts conflict the disagreement is reported rather than settled.