India Protects Its Most Valuable Tea

If you’re a tea drinker, you’ve got a head start on our Geo Quiz.

We’re looking for the name of a town in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal.

This town in the foothills of the Himalayas gives its name to one of the world’s most popular tea varieties.

It’s a tea with a distinctive flavor.

“It’s a smooth taste,” says New York Times Reporter Jim Yardley. “One cup makes you want to have another cup. It doesn’t quite fully quench you because it doesn’t have that overpoweringly powerful taste of some teas, slightly grassy. It’s really a lovely taste.”

Yardley was describing Darjeeling tea, grown in Darjeeling, India, the answer to our Geo Quiz.

Yardley’s New York Times story profiles the tea growers of this area, and their efforts to protect their legendary and unique variety.

They’re trying to protect the Darjeeling brand from competitors who also market and sell blended teas under the name Darjeeling.