Chinese tea buyers are disrupting a heated trade spat between Nepal and India that has brought counterfeit Darjeeling into the teapots of unsuspecting consumers.
Indian tea estates have come under severe pressure due to an onslaught of cheaper Nepalese tea that traders have been happy to repackage as Darjeeling, the “champagne” of premium teas grown just over the Nepal-India border.
India has historically accounted for nearly all of Nepal’s tea exports, meaning Darjeeling tea makers have found it hard to compete with the cheaper leaves flooding the market. Now, with China emerging as a bigger buyer of Kathmandu’s wares, industry insiders say the pressure on India should go down.