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Dominic T.

wrote:
> Wondering if you can get Makaibaris "Apoorva" in the US. IMO one of the
> nicest ready-packed DJs out there, quite a bit of punch-body-briskness,
> bio-dynamically grown and fairly cheap.
>
> > Make sure they say Darjeeling on the package.
> I´m afraid that´s not enough, even with TATA (it should say something
> like "100% DJ", otherwise welcome to the flavor of Doaars and Terai
> teas). Only 10000 of those 40000 tons of so called and labelled DJs
> sold worldwide per year come from Darjeeling.
> Look out for the "Darjeeling logo" (google for an idea of what it looks
> like) of the Indian Tea Board to be a bit more on the safe side.
>
> Best,
> Karsten [N 53°13' - E 7°46']

Thanks for the info, I have never seen "Apoorva" in any of my Indian
markets.

The other night I had a wonderful conversation with the owner of our
local Indian restaurant after our meal about life in India, food, tea,
and politics... I thought you might be interested. He was telling me
how he just returned and he was there for a month, and how he hadn't
even seen a glimpse of a cloud and it was in the 90's. We began talking
about how the high-tech industry is really taking off (since I work in
IT) and he was explaining how it is starting to introduce stress and
faster paced life as well as the need to work through the night due to
the time difference to here for phone support. He also explained to me
why their tea goes to Russia (which was news to me). He stated that
they trade Coffee, Tea, and Cotton to Russia on a sort of barter
economy in exchange for arms. America only sells on a credit like
system and is partially responsible for the bankruptcy of Pakistan, and
India wants no parts of that. He was also talking about President
Bush's latest trip there and the motivation behind it from their
perspective. All very interesting, and I could not disagree with one
word the man said. He spends 3 months here in the US and 1 in India all
year, and travels the world as well. I found it also interesting that
of all the cities in the world, he picks Prague as the best by far. We
had a great conversation and he was pretty impressed with my knowledge
of India which is what got him to open up to me, he is normally very
quiet and reserved. I had a blast and it was like I had been to India
after hearing his insider's tales of the food/history/culture. It is
now on my short list of places to travel to for sure, I have much more
respect and understanding now.

- Dominic