First Flush Darjeeling Tea

 

Our First Flush Darjeeling is unique from any other tea that we produce. It hails from the historic Badamtam Estate, where high altitude and cool Himalayan winds produce a superb aromatic spring tea with exceptional minerality and clarity. And what's more, the first crop of 2025, which is known as ‘Invoice DJ1’, is exclusive to Fortnum's so has been made especially for us. That makes it the first of the First Flush! 

Every spring, the First Flush represents the beginning of a new season of growth in Darjeeling, India. The First Flush is the name given to the first “flush” of growth that occurs every spring. All the tea bushes in Darjeeling's gardens lay dormant during the cold winter months, some even get a covering of Himalayan snow. It is during this time that they develop their distinctive flavour, and the First Flush is celebrated in the world of tea.

The Badamtam Estate gardens first opened in 1858 and has, for many decades, been synonymous with producing some of the finest First Flush teas in Darjeeling. The expertise of the tea connoisseurs at Badamtam, where our Darjeeling is grown, gives them the unique ability to know exactly when the leaves are ready to be picked. Equally, they need use only their trained eyes to decipher what is of the highest quality.

The tea itself is wonderfully serene to drink, but the immense journey these little leaves must go through before reaching the cup is what makes this tea so special. While beautiful to behold, these mountainous conditions mean that the Darjeeling tea leaves grow in incredibly steep terrain, with high altitudes and extreme elevations. The challenging conditions in which the tea leaves are grown is what gives them their crisp and uplifting flavour, while the leaves that are picked later – during monsoon season – are grown in far easier conditions and, in turn, have less of a full and flavoursome taste.

Highly aromatic and complex, the tea has exceptional minerality and clarity alongside intense flavour and a light crisp mouthfeel reminiscent of muscatel grapes. And while it is a black tea, First Flush Darjeeling delivers a light golden green infusion.

 

'The flavour of the tea varies each year depending on factors such as the weather, so we never know what it's going to taste like until it arrives with us, which makes it so exciting! This year's First Flush is yet again different to the last few seasons: we've seen notes of green mango and pea shoot over the last couple of years, but this time there's a hint of strawberry to the liquor which adds more rounded sweetness to the lovely muscatel flavour..’ 

Ottilie Cunningham, Fortnum's Senior Tea Buyer

 

Turning Leaf Into Tea

After the bud and two leaves are picked, they are laid out to wither overnight. The next day the leaves are rolled, creating a slight twist to the leaves, and they are then laid out to oxidise. It is a highly unique skill to know exactly how long the leaves need to be oxidised, as if they are left too long, the flavour of the tea will change entirely. The magic of the best Darjeeling is the lightness of the oxidation, which results in a delicate peachy liquor.

The leaves are then dried and sorted into different tea grades, with only the very best going into our caddies. While thankfully there is no short supply of many of our famous teas, Darjeeling is unique in that it is grown in rather small quantities. Around 680 million kilos per year of Assam are grown, for example, while less than 7 million kilos of Darjeeling tea were grown last year.

 

How To Brew

Our First Flush represents many things – the emergence of spring, the incredible resilience of the tea leaf and the unique expertise that are needed to grow such a remarkable tea.

While wonderfully unique, treat this beloved brew as you would your other favourite Fortnum’s blends – no milk, brew at 90 degrees and don’t forget to serve with your favourite biscuit alongside.

And if you want to make it even more refreshing, you can leave your brew in the fridge overnight and then top it up with sparkling water!

 

Toasty green mango aroma. Classic Darjeeling notes and a hint of strawberry. 

Beautifully buttery and marvelously moreish, our Piccadilly Lemon Curd Biscuits are made using real lemon curd, which brings a certain sweet-sharp zestiness to them that will pair perfectly with a cup of our First Flush Darjeeling 2025. 

 

Fortnum's Flies to Darjeeling

Fortnum’s Tea Buying team visits our key producers in Darjeeling every three years, and this spring, our Senior Tea Buyer, Ottilie Cunningham, was accompanied by Yvonne Isherwood, our Product & Packaging Design Manager, along with Rebecca Morgan, Fortnum’s Sustainability Manager, and, over a cup of freshly poured First Flush (of course), we caught up with Ottilie to hear about their trip.

 

‘Visiting tea origins is crucial to understand what is happening in each region from a macro level’ explains Ottilie. ‘We ensure the gardens we’re buying from are doing the right thing with regards to quality, their people and the environment, and that their operations continue to align with our values.’

 

The relationships we hold with our suppliers are of utmost importance to Fortnum’s, and it is no different when it comes to maintaining our Darjeeling relations. ‘We typically stay in the garden, normally in the home of the manager with their family’ Ottilie tells us. ‘It makes for a unique experience and provides the opportunity to discuss the tea industry in greater depth.’

 

It’s a full schedule for Ottilie and the team – ‘we spend time with each supplier, observing the manufacturing process and visiting the fields to check on the health of the tea bushes and the overall garden. We’ll chat with the management and the workforce to find out what challenges they’re facing and the state of the market for their tea, as well as providing them with insights on the global market, normally over a cup of lovely fresh tea! We’ll taste recent manufacture to assess quality – although we don’t make any buying decisions without taking the samples back to taste again at home – we need to make sure it holds up to our standards in our water.’

 

Ottlie goes on to explain that ‘the Darjeeling gardens are struggling, mainly due to a lack of workers and climate change impacting production, as well as competition from neighbouring producers in Nepal. Many gardens have sadly closed so this visit was crucial for us to ensure we’re partnering with producers who have a long term view who we will work closely with to give Darjeeling tea the showcase it deserves.’

 

This year’s trip to this most scenic tea garden, which faces the imposing Himalayan Mountain range was a source of inspiration to all. Yvonne returned to our Piccadilly lodgings full of ideas and inspiration for the design of all things tea, whilst Rebecca explains how the trip was a key step in progressing our Future Matters sustainability goals, specifically regarding traceability, worker welfare, and supply chain resilience for our tea. ‘We observed our tea gardens, processing facilities, the people involved and the effects of climate change. This firsthand experience validated our trace to source efforts for tea, provided deeper knowledge of each supplying garden, and will help to inform our strategy for increasing the positive impact of our purchasing decisions. Meeting the dedicated workers highlighted the skill required in tea production, and we gained insights into working conditions and welfare programs. Our time there proved invaluable and profoundly insightful experience.’

 

Ottilie ends by explaining that ‘it’s always lovely to see many familiar faces when visiting Darjeeling, but what really made this visit special was seeing tea for the first time again, through the eyes of Rebecca and Yvonne. Tea is grown in some of the most beautiful places in the world, so it is a privilege to make these trips.’