Darjeeling tea Darjeeling tea Darjeeling tea is a tea grown in the Darjeeling district in West Bengal, India, and widely exported and known. It is processed as black, green, white and oolong tea. When properly brewed, it yields a thin-bodied, light-coloured infusion with a floral aroma. The flavour can include a tinge of astringent tannic characteristics and a musky spiciness sometimes described as "muscatel". Unlike most Indian teas, Darjeeling tea is normally made from the small-leaved Chinese variety of "Camellia sinensis" var. "sinensis", rather than the large-leaved Assam plant ("C. sinensis" var. "assamica"). Traditionally, Darjeeling tea is made as black tea; however,
Camellia sinensis all harvested from one or the other, but are processed differently to attain varying levels of oxidation. Kukicha (twig tea) is also harvested from "Camellia sinensis", but uses twigs and stems rather than leaves. The name "Camellia" is taken from the Latinized name of Rev. Georg Kamel, SJ (1661–1706), a Moravian-born Jesuit lay brother, pharmacist, and missionary to the Philippines. Carl Linnaeus chose his name in 1753 for the genus to honor Kamel's contributions to botany (although Kamel did not discover or name this plant, or any "Camellia", and Linnaeus did not consider this plant a "Camellia" but a "Thea").