The ridge is still asleep. She isn't.
First light on the Lebong spur. Pushpa's basket takes only the bud and the top two leaves, the "do patti" we are named for. Anything more is left for the bush.
ELEVATION 1,980 M · MIST COVER 90% · TWO LEAVES + A BUD, NOTHING ELSE
The kettle clicks on.
In a Kolkata kitchen, water starts its climb to 90 degrees. The tin on the shelf holds leaves that stood on that ridge nine days ago, not nine months.
FILTERED WATER · 90°C, NOT A ROLLING BOIL · TIN DATED BY PLUCK WEEK
The withering trough breathes.
Fresh leaf is laid ankle-deep on mesh troughs while cool air moves beneath. Over fourteen hours it loses a third of its weight and all of its stiffness.
14 HRS WITHERING · MOISTURE 78% → 55% · TURNED BY HAND EVERY 2 HRS
The cup warms first.
A splash of hot water swirled in the empty cup, then poured away. Cold porcelain steals heat from a delicate first flush; a warm cup keeps the brew honest.
WARM THE CUP 20 SEC · PORCELAIN OR GLASS · NEVER MILK WITH FIRST FLUSH
Rolling, then fire.
Withered leaf is rolled to bruise the cell walls, rested to oxidise, then fired at 110 degrees. This is the moment aroma is locked in. The whole factory smells of it.
ROLL 45 MIN · OXIDISE TO ORDER · FIRED AT 110°C IN SMALL BATCHES
The first pour.
Water meets leaf and the kitchen fills with the same scent the firing room held. Muscatel, a little citrus, cut grass after rain. The two days touch for the first time.
THE SMELL OF THE POUR = THE SMELL OF THE FIRING ROOM, NINE DAYS APART
First meeting point · Noon
The auction we skip
Most Darjeeling passes through brokers, auction lots and blenders before it reaches a shelf. Do Patti is plucked, made and packed on one estate, then couriered straight to you. Same leaf, shorter road, fairer split.
of your rupee stays with the estate and its pluckers
AUCTION ROUTE: ~18%
from pluck to your doorstep, sealed at the factory
AUCTION ROUTE: 40+ DAYS
no blending, every tin traceable to a pluck week and a ridge
BLENDED PACKS: UNTRACEABLE
The tasting table.
Every batch is cupped before it ships. Five white bowls, three minutes each, slurped loudly and spat. Batches that read flat are sold locally, never packed under our name.
EVERY BATCH CUPPED · 5 BOWLS · REJECTS NEVER WEAR THE LABEL
Your own small ritual.
Four minutes on the clock. No stirring, no squeezing the leaves. What the taster looked for at the table is what you get to find at your desk: brightness first, then the long muscatel finish.
STEEP 4 MIN · TASTE AT SIP 1, SIP 5, LAST SIP · NOTES CHANGE AS IT COOLS
Second meeting point · Two o'clock
The brew, agreed by both sides
The taster on the estate and the drinker in the kitchen use the same three numbers. Everything else is preference.
Water
Off the boil, count to thirty. 95°C for second flush.
Steep
3 minutes if you like it lighter. Never past five.
Leaf per 150 ml
Roughly one generous teaspoon per cup. Re-steep once.
Sorting and grading.
Fired leaf moves over shaking meshes and under quick hands. Whole leaf one way, brokens another. Only the whole-leaf SFTGFP grade goes into Do Patti tins.
GRADE PACKED: SFTGFP 1 · HAND-SORTED · BROKENS SOLD, NEVER MIXED IN
The afternoon chai hour.
Second flush takes milk and a little sugar without losing itself. The office kettle, the roadside glass, the four-thirty slump: this is the cup that carries India through it.
SECOND FLUSH + MILK = THE 4:30 CUP · STRONGER STEEP, 5 MIN, 95°C
The harvest calendar.
First flush in March and April, brisk and floral. Second flush in May and June, the famous muscatel. Monsoon leaf we keep for ourselves; autumn flush closes the year mellow.
MAR–APR FIRST FLUSH · MAY–JUN SECOND · OCT–NOV AUTUMNAL · WINTER: THE BUSHES REST
The subscription rhythm.
Subscribers drink the calendar. Whatever the estate is plucking is what lands in your letterbox that month, with a card naming the pluck week and the ridge it came from.
1 TIN / MONTH · FOLLOWS THE FLUSH · PLUCK-WEEK CARD IN EVERY BOX
Third meeting point · Six o'clock
Where the two days end up
Her day ends with the leaf sealed in a tin. Yours can start with it. Direct from the estate, shipped across India.
First Flush
The spring pluck. Pale gold in the cup, floral and brisk. Drink it plain.
- SFTGFP 1 whole leaf
- March–April pluck
- About 40 cups per tin
The Subscription
One tin a month, following the flush calendar. Free shipping, pause any time.
- Whatever the estate plucks
- Free shipping across India
- Pluck-week card in every box
Second Flush
The summer muscatel. Amber, rounded, happy with or without milk.
- SFTGFP 1 whole leaf
- May–June pluck
- The 4:30 chai upgrade