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Green tea is said to be good for health. There are lots of green tea available in the market but have you ever heard of ‘our own Samchholing Green Tea’? It originates from a village called Samchholing in Trongsa and has already become a way of life there.
The green tea at Samchholing has interesting beginnings. It is said to have been brought to Bhutan by the Second Druk Gyalpo. Scientifically known as Camellia Sinensis, it was first said to have planted near the Samchholing palace. It was more for personal use then. But now, the purpose has changed. Samchholing green tea has become a commercial good.
A Pilot Project, funded by the Jiuju University in Korea, still gets its saplings from these trees near the palace.
The local people were given the tea as gifts and remember the stories that they were told as kids. “In the old days we had to harvest green tea and present it to the King. These days that tradition has disappeared. Now days we are growing the tea commercially,” said Lemo, a local resident.
Another resident, Nima, remembers that the first trees were planted during the reign of the second Druk Gyalpo. “Only our grandparents know the story well. I have trees which were planted by my grandparents outside my house. I have a passion for cultivating green tea also,” he added.
Farmers normally harvest the tea 9 months of the year. When we visited the Renewable Natural Resources Centre at Drakten a farmer had brought her harvest to the Centre.
There are presently only a handful of farmers who grow the tea commercially. The Gewog Agriculture Office takes care of the Green tea project. Sangay Dorji, Gewog Agriculture officer, said the processing is done at the Centre. “After reaching here we just weigh the tea. It should be 50 grams each per packet. Then we remove all the air and then seal it with the sealing machine. It is provided by the South Korean Jinju University.
“After sealing the packet, we pack it in various packing materials. We have bamboo materials and also plastic but we decided to use eco-friendly packing materials like cloth instead of the plastic. A packet of Samchholing Green tea costs Nu. 100,” he explained how the process is being done.
Sangay takes me to a tea plantation area. A drawback is the tea can only be harvested three years after it is planted. He told me about a grading system of the tea. “There are three types of green tea,” he explained. “As of now we are only making one type. According to the different methods of making green tea the quality of the tea is better when leaves are younger. That’s why you never use old leaves. The best are new leaves. The second best is two leaves and the third best is three leaves together. We don’t pick older leaves because as the leaves mature they lose their properties. We currently only produce the three leaf green tea but we plan on making three grades once Samchholing green tea is fully established. One being the most exclusive.”
At the end of the day the farmer who came to the RNR Centre will get about Nu. 20,000 for her harvest. The product is sent to Thimphu for sale. And so goes on the story of Samchholing Green Tea.
