Coonoor
The commercial centre of the Nilgiris, on the southern slope of the plateau below Ooty, and where South Indian tea is actually traded: the Coonoor auction is one of India’s main sale centres and handles a large share of the region’s crop. The surrounding gardens sit high on the plateau edge and include most of the district’s orthodox and speciality manufacture, as opposed to the CTC that dominates lower down. The winter frost teas the Nilgiris are known for — leaf picked after cold nights, in years when they come — are a Coonoor-belt phenomenon.
Elevation
Recorded at 1400–2100 metres.
How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it.
Climate
Two monsoons and mild temperatures allow plucking through most of the year, with clear cold nights in December and January that some gardens harvest specifically for.
How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it.
When it is picked
The Nilgiri pattern: year-round growth with a cold-weather quality window around the turn of the year, and a heavy monsoon crop of little interest between the two south-west and north-east rainy seasons that both reach these hills.
How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it.
How production is organised
Small growers and bought-leaf factories predominate, with the region's research institution and a cluster of speciality producers giving Coonoor more technical depth than its volume would suggest.
How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it.
How the name is written
Also transliterated as coonoor, kunnur. Romanisations of a district name vary by system and by vendor, and a packet spelling one way is not describing a different place.
Teas this region is known for
- Nilgiri — Bright and fragrant with a soft body — the least aggressive of the major Indian black teas, and the one most often chosen when a tea has to stay clear on ice.
Other teas recorded from here
Other growing regions in India
The neighbouring districts are the useful comparison: they share a country, a grading convention and often a cultivar, so what differs between them is closer to terroir than anything a cross-border comparison can isolate.
Sources
- TeaHQ editorial synthesis — TeaHQ
- UPASI Tea Research Foundation — UPASI Tea Research Foundation, United Planters' Association of Southern India, Valparai / Coonoor