Makaibari Tea Estate

 village, tea estate

(CERTIFIED ORGANIC BY CONTROL UNION CERTIFICATION, MUMBAI). Kurseong P.O. District : Darjeeling,West Bengal-734203, India
Makaibari (“Corn Fields”) is the oldest garden in Darjeeling, in North East India.
Established in 1859, it extends over 1575 acres of hills, valleys and forests at the foothills
of the fabled Himalayan Mountains. Over 4500 feet in altitude, this tea garden is the jewel
in what is called the Golden Mile of the most famous tea growing region in the world.
It is still farmed by the original founding family. Rajah Banerjee, the current owner,
is the 4th generation scion of this tea dynasty.

Rajah inherited a tea estate that was conventionally grown. He painstakingly evolved it
to organic and then biodynamic agricultural standards. His was the first garden to be
certified Fair Trade in the world, the first to appoint women to supervisory positions
– unheard of in the traditional male dominant culture - and the first to market
Darjeelings Greens, Oolongs and Silver Tips. It was already renowned for its classic Muscatels.

Makaibari is an idealistic, inspiring plantation. Imagine a place surrounded by mountains
and valleys, where one thousand acres of forest thrive, where leopards and panthers live,
where the hornbill nests, where seven villages live in harmony, growing the finest tea in the
world. This is Makaibari. It is the proud caretaker of wild life and a diversity of fauna and flora.
It is the advocate of sustainable agriculture and a destination for students, sightseers,
tea devotees and all those seeking the pure air of the mountains and the simplicity of its life.
In tea annals, Makaibari commands a mystique, a higher sense of purpose, a deeper complexity in its tea with no short cuts, an emphasis on quality and true authenticity.