Arya Estate (arya is the Sanskrit word for ‘noble’ or ‘best’) is a relatively small tea garden located close to the town of Darjeeling. The estate cultivates tea at elevations ranging from 900 to more than 1800(!)m, making it one of the highest tea gardens in Darjeeling. An extremely steep and narrow access road give it the feeling of a remote destination, despite its proximity to Darjeeling town.
The tea garden has a long tradition dating back to the eighteenth century when a group of Buddhist monks established the garden. Arya is a fully certified organic tea garden and strongly committed to environmental sustainability (the estate boasts the first private hydro-power scheme in Asia!).
Being a small and organic tea garden, Arya’s focus has always been on producing artisan teas of exceptional quality. While the garden produces a range of outstanding specialty teas like pearl white tea (similar to the Chinese Dragon Pearls) and Darjeeling Oolong, no other tea represents Arya’s special status better than their flagship product - Arya Ruby.
Scarcity + Quality = Legend
The production of Arya Ruby is extremely limited. In fact, this year’s first flush production amounted to only 200kg (we were lucky enough to secure 2kg for our shop)! As Seth Godin pointed out in a post yesterday, scarcity can have a big effect on the desirability of a product. I think in the world of tea (and wine or whiskey, for example), the rarity of a product like Arya Ruby makes it legendary and adds a level of mystery. The fact that you are most likely unable to purchase Arya Ruby - even if you are willing to spend a lot of money on it (most shops have sold out of it already) - increases its legendary status.
But does the tea live up to its promise? You bet! I am pretty sure that it will exceed the expectations of most people. It has a uniqueness about it, an unusual and pronounced character that sets it apart from other teas of this region.
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