An Exercise in Excellence
(from TEA A Magazine – Spring 2006)
by James Norwood Pratt and Devan Shah
One of us came from Japan, others from Dubai, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, the Netherlands, US, UK, and two from India. But we agreed unanimously that we had never even heard of any event of the kind so well planned and organized or half so well executed. And afterwards we jurors departed homewards in no doubt we had participated in a significant event in tea history - The Golden Leaf India Awards Southern Tea Competition 2005.
Tea history shows that in competitions everybody wins. This is true even of South Korea's South Cholla province, where 270 farmers grow about half the country's tea on less area than a couple of major south India estates, and it's glaringly obvious in Taiwan or in China, where competitions are becoming numerous. Tea competitions set standards that raise the awareness of quality throughout the producing region, even among those who do not compete, and fosters friendly rivalry among those who do. Also, there's no better way to showcase a region's best to outsiders, customers especially.
South India tea needs all the benefits an established annual competition can provide. The region is the world's fourth or fifth largest tea exporter, depending on the year, but its teas enjoy neither recognition nor respect and in recent years many producers have been selling their tea at or below production costs. One reason for this is that most south India tea was for decades destined for the Soviet Union as its only export market-but the world still has no idea what it's missing! One of the world's greatest high-grown black teas - the endlessly fragrant and forgiving Nilgiri - gives just an introduction to the region's products and potential.
Nilgiri - the name translates "blue mountains"-is probably the world's highest grown tea, with considerable acreage topping elevations of 8000 feet. In India it was known as "the southern Darjeeling" before it was consigned to oblivion behind the Iron Curtain. Of Orthodox manufacture now, as then, it is still some of the world's most beautiful leaf and one of the most aromatic cups. It's surprising that it should take the Golden Leaf India Awards to reveal such a secret treasure to the world's tea lovers.
What's also surprising is that South India's inaugural effort has shown the tea world at large how to do a major competition right. Credit for this goes to the inspired leadership of United Planters Association of South India (UP ASI), starting with UP ASI president Anil Bhandari, who persuaded the Tea Board of India to join in funding and sponsoring the Awards. UPASI officials like N. Dharmaraj and S. Sanjith along with activist Board members like Ullas Menon and Ashok Kuriyan succeeded brilliantly in planning and organizing a smooth-functioning and eminently fair process.
They devised a multi-layered screening process with a scoring system which can be independently audited. Competing teas were required to be made in commercial quantities not less than 750 kgs. and were screened for PFA and residue parameters. By the end of August, samples of almost 350 teas from south India's various agro-climatic districts had been entered. Two elimination rounds narrowed this field before we, the international panel of jurors, were faced with the 136 finalists on September 18. The winning entries were announced the following evening at the televised conclusion of UPASI's l03rd convention in the presence of India's Minister of State for Commerce & Industry.
The categories were Orthodox, with separate prizes for whole leaf, brokens, fannings and dust, CTC, with prizes for leaf, fannings and dust, Organic and Green. Prizes went to the best from each of six designated south India origins: Anamallais, High Ranges, Nilgiris, Travancore, Wayanad, and Karnataka, with which were grouped the remaining Tamil Nadu and Kerala sub-districts. One of the Competition's objectives is to spotlight these as individual origins, with distinctive qualities which differentiate them each from each.
We the jury conducted the final round of screening at UP ASI headquarters in Coonoor under ideal circumstances - perfect light, water, equipment and assistance. We tasted in randomly chosen teams of two, assigning each tea separate scores of 1 to 10 for dry and infused leaf appearance, liquor color, briskness, strength, flavor, etc. It was an unhurried tasting that outlasted the morning and by the end of it all participants had received an eye-opening education in south India tea. We jurors passed our observations along when individually we addressed the convention and again later at a seminar for growers. Among ourselves we agreed this was the very model of everything a competition ought to be. As word spreads, other countries will begin learning from and imitating aspects of India's Southern Tea Competition.
INDIA has learned from this exercise that getting prominent and internationally known tea professionals to visit is a sure way to get a region talked about in the tea trade around the world. The feedback they provide their hosts should also be valuable in understanding the international market and its requirements. A foundation has been laid for many future relationships. A scoring methodology which can be used industry-wide for evaluating south India teas has been created. Quality consciousness has received a major boost and an incentive.
The ultimate target of all this effort, clearly, is us - tea consumers overseas. We need to be encouraged to discriminate among types of tea and competitions are an ideal vehicle toward this end. Formosa oolong was not a product but almost an undifferentiated commodity when the fanners of Lugu or "Deer Valley" in Taiwan began their competition in 1985. Today, as their tea prices show, Lugu oolongs are recognized as a class by themselves and the surrounding Nantou County shares their prestige. In the US, we increasingly see China teas being sold at a premium as "Competition Grade," a meaningless tern where there are no competitions.
If it becomes an annual event, the Golden Leaf India Awards Southern Tea Competition is undoubtedly the best way to south India's twin goals of improving quality and achieving recognition. Americans may even learn that the Himalayas are not India's only mountains.
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