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Anesce Dremen

Anything for Tea: Budget Backpacking in Nilgiris

Buddies Cafe in Ooty. This cafe is the largest tea room in India, which features over 220 varieties of tea: artisanal and hand-crafted single-origin teas, orthodox blends, tisanes, and CTC dust. When I first entered the cafe, Nirmal Raj stood next to a wall of transparent glass tea canisters and opened them enthusiastically to allow customers to inhale as he spoke animatedly about each tea. After leaving my non-heated hostel, I chanced upon the cafe, searching for a warmer place to write from. As a shoestring budget backpacker, I had traveled to the Nilgiris tea-growing region on an overnight bus from Bengaluru, India, and soon found myself returning daily to Buddies Cafe.

A Local Tea Movement Brewing in Assam

What started as a conversation about the qualities that make the teas of Assam so appealing has since developed into a collaboration with marginalized, small-size tea growers to provide natural loose-leaf “home grown” tea.

Anything for Tea: Budget Backpacking in Nilgiris

Travelling through the Nilgiris on a comfortable budget, Anesce Dremen finds that it costs little to make real connections, have real conversations. As she allows her journey through the Nilgiris to unfold at will, she finds herself immersed in memorable encounters and experiences. Told with honesty, written vividly, it’s a view of the Nilgiris not often seen. (Itinerary and costs included)

Taiwan tea culture tour, WOW

Authentic and Sustainable Tea Tourism

Consumers who experience the origin, terroir, and processing of the leaves in the cup can engage more deeply by visiting tea-growing regions to learn about tea. Visiting origin forever alters one’s relationship to tea. But before delving into the myriad tour options it is important to reflect on how our actions may impact others. Namely, while simultaneously seeking an authentic, hands-on tea tour, one must also consider which programs are sustainable and respectfully engage the host culture(s).

Sustainable Tourism: Pinglin, Taiwan

Wow Taiwan provides half-day and day-long tours and experiential learning trips in villages across northern Taiwan. They offer several Slow Tea Tours, notably the Tea Master Tour as well as the Tea Mountains Culture Tour both in Pinglin Taiwan’s first eco-village.

Sustainable Tourism: Higashi Sonogi, Japan

Green Tea Homestay is managed by Nakayama Hisatsugu. The tea factory has been operated for over 70 years by the Nakayama family who is committed to environmentally friendly practices across agricultural cultivations. They initiated an outreach program in eco-tourism in 2014.

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