Garden Story

Kanchanjangha Tea Estate (KTE) was established in 1984 by Deepak Banskota, a key figure in Nepal's tea movement. It was after a visit to tea gardens to Darjeeling as a teenager that he became inspired to use tea to advance the economic situation of his own village.

Deepak later convinced other farmers to join together and pool their marginal landholdings and the garden was set up similar to a co-op model. This means that workers in the factory and garden are not just employees of the company but have an ownership stake.

Today Deepak's son, Nischal (picture below), is doing a great job at bringing teas from KTE to the world.

About the Makers

KTE is part of a new generation of farmers and tea producers in Nepal who are no longer content to stay in the shadows of the country's illustrious tea growing neighbour Darjeeling.

Inspired by the tea traditions of China and Taiwan, skilled tea makers like those at KTE are developing new styles of tea, and raising quality to levels not seen before. For so long tea from this part of the world has been written off or dismissed as "wild west". Our teas from KTE offer so much that is exciting about the new wave of Nepali tea.