Darjeeling first flush 'Springtime Bloom' loose leaf, 100 g

The 'champagne of teas' from the oldest estate in Darjeeling, at the price importers pay — a suitcase-friendly gift that's genuinely impossible to buy this fresh abroad.

Price: 775 INR (Makaibari.in official price for Springtime Bloom 100 g first flush (₹775; Himalayan Spring ₹795), checked 2026-07-03; seasonal lots sell out)

Where to buy: Makaibari estate shop (Kurseong) and makaibari.in; Goodricke's outlets and Nathmulls (Darjeeling town); good tea rooms in Delhi/Kolkata carry estate-marked tins.

Price checked 2026-07-03

• First flush (Feb–Apr picking) is the prized light, floral harvest — by July the current year's lots are selling out, so buy when you see it
• Insist on estate-named, invoice-marked tins (Makaibari, Goodricke's Castleton/Margaret's Hope, Jungpana); generic 'Darjeeling' blends often contain Nepali tea
• Look for the Darjeeling GI logo — only 80-odd gardens may use it
• Also grab Assam (malty, ~₹400/100g) and Nilgiri frost tea while you're at it; packaged tea is unproblematic at US and GB customs
• At-source price is 3–4x below what the identical harvest costs after export