The Okayti Story

The story of Okayti is a story of an enduring search for Home. The mountainous region of Darjeeling was scarcely populated before tea plantations started. After acquiring, the British saw a second home in Darjeeling, far away from the sweltering climate of then Calcutta. After several expeditions, tea was sowed in Darjeeling. The British as well as hundreds of the dispossessed people found their homes.

150 YEARS OLD PLANTATION

Rangdoo as it was erstwhile known is one of the most picturesque estates in Darjeeling. In the past 150 years, things have barely changed. The home of the first owner still stands proudly within the estate’s vicinity flaunting its victorian beauty. The planters and the people who put their sweat and blood accepted Rangdoo as their home. Now, when we glance upon the estate, it looks like the tea bushes are an inherent part of the region, every single fauna right where it is supposed to be. But the history entails the enormous amount of effort that was put to make Okayti what it is today.

THE HISTORICAL ERA OF THE 1870S

The decade 1870s marked the time when this tea garden from Darjeeling was established. Okayti Tea Estate is also credited to have one of the oldest tea factories in the region dating back to 1888. The decade also marks the huge shift in the socio-economy and geography of Darjeeling.

SWIRLY LIFE, TWISTY ROADS

To get a panoramic view, one has to navigate the Okayti Tea Estate through roads so twisty that one may assume that they are going in circles. A walk in the swirly pathways amidst the tea bushes, trees and lots of green is therapeutic. Perhaps the paths are a metaphor of how persistence and patience leads one to the top and how there are no shortcuts to better things.

DIRECTLY FROM GARDEN TO CUP

Okayti harvests and processes its tea within the estate producing the finest single estate Darjeeling teas. To enhance the flavours, only bio-organic supplements are used. The raw leaves are taken to the factory fresh where it is processed with utmost care. And the fresh ready to brew teas are shipped directly to your cup, a huge cut in unnecessary travel to whole sellers and retailers makes sure that the tea reaches you as brisk as it was in the factory.