Tourists at Kurseong were in for a surprise as they were invited for a night of tea plucking. Adarsh Munna Tea Garden, which manufactures the Hornbill Tea with the famous silver tips and imperial silver tips, organised a moonlight tea plucking event.
The ceremony began at 6.30pm on Sunday, 28th March and hosted 56 guests from several parts of India which included Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Siliguri and locally from Malbazar. Before the ceremony, a local fok program enthralled the visitors.
The first phase of plucking was completed at 930 pm. This was followed by a grand local dinner at Moonbeam Homestay.
According to experts, if tea is plucked during full moon and processed fresh, you get one of the best orthodox teas in the world. The first such experimentation was done by tea legend Rajah Banerjee at Makaibari estate in Kurseong.
The tea that evolved was called 'Silver Imperial'. It was consumed by the royal families of UK and Japan. Later, tourists started showing interest in the process of 'moonlight plucking' as the process was said to bestow special natural energy upon the people who were present during that period.
Banerjee wanted this to be practiced by all organic tea gardens of North Bengal. He chose the extraordinary 'Hornbill Tea' of the tiny yet ideal Adarsh Munna Tea Garden, located amidst hornbill forests of Nim Tumglabong during the festival of Holi in 2019.
