The Chamong Tea Group

Darjeeling Limited, not the Movie, but…the Largest Producer of Organic Tea in India.

A recent article in The New York Times entitled, High Tea, India Style, describes the area in the Darjeeling Hills where the Chamong Group’s tea gardens are located. “THE Himalayas rose almost out of nowhere. One minute the Maruti Suzuki hatchback was cruising the humid plains of West Bengal, palm trees and clouds obscuring the hills to come; the next it was navigating a decrepit road that squiggled up through forests of cypress and bamboo. The taxi wheezed with the strain of the slopes, and the driver honked to alert unseen vehicles to our presence–one miscalculation, one near miss, could send the little car over the edge and down thousands of feet, returning us to the plains below in a matter of seconds. Flying to a remote corner of India and braving the long drive into the Himalayas may seem like an awful lot of effort for a good cup of tea, but Darjeeling tea isn’t simply good. It’s about the best in the world.”

Welcome to the Darjeeling Hills. The tea gardens of the Chamong Group are nes tled here, in the serenity of the lush, luxuriant greenery of the eastern Himalayas, home to the distinctive and delicate flavor of Darjeeling Tea. And welcome to Assam, in the plains of Brahmaputra river valley, the natural habitat of the golden, full bodied and robust Assam Tea (Chai).

The flavor known as Darjeeling is touched by the rich soil and the enchantment of the land in which the tea grows. Much like Chateau Petrus from Pomerol, France or a Hoyo de Monterrey from Cuba, this is tea without equal; its taste cannot be replicated anywhere else on Earth. Chamong adds to that natural flavor, the premium quality and organic production, that make your cup of tea the freshest thing, straight from our gardens to your home.

The Group and its Facilities

The first Chamong Group garden was established in Assam in 1916. The family owned, professionally managed Chamong Group is now into its 6th generation and owns four estates in Assam and thirteen in Darjeeling. Collectively, the group is the largest producer of organic Darjeeling and Assam teas, both in terms of quantity and quality.

The Chamong Group’s state-of-the-art modernizations, its vast infrastructure and our insistence on flexibility and innovation have given us a competitive edge over others. A new fully automatic blending and packaging unit has recently been commissioned in Kolkata for hygienically blending and packing teas in keeping with the EU regulations and HACCP standards. Chamong exports to most of the major tea consuming countries in Europe as well as UK, Japan, USA and the Middle East.

The total tea production of the Chamong Group today is about 3000 M.T. annually and the group employs about 10,000 personnel. Besides tea manufacturing facilities, Chamong has its own blending, packaging and tea bagging facilities. All facilities are USDA Organic and HACCP certified.

Environmental Awareness/Organic Conversion

Chamong recognizes their responsibilities to the planet and are willing to do their best to keep the environment healthy. The Group’s commitment to environmental issues is reflected in the number of Group’s gardens that have been–or are in the process of being–converted to the Bio-Organic method of cultivation.

This policy has enabled them to offer buyers the best flavor certified Bio-Organic teas, both from Darjeeling and Assam as per EU Regulations, (together with Fair Trade Registered Teas (FLO) from both Districts). More importantly, the conversion to organic production has provided a healthier working and living environment.

Primary among conservation projects at their Darjeeling estates is the tapping and harnessing of natural water resources to produce hydroelectric power. They provide liquid petroleum gas (LPG) to workers, making their traditional wood fires redundant, preventing deforestation and saving precious forest cover, averting soil erosion and conserving the natural habitat.

Taking Care of Their Own

By giving many families the security of a regular income, the Chamong Group has helped to raise the socio-economic standards of the local population. Education, social security and workers welfare are given high priority. Workers have free housing, ration, medical and maternity benefits. In addition, the gardens have fully equipped hospitals, primary schools for workers’ children and places of worship for various religious communities.

Quality Control

The Switzerland based Institut Fur Marktokologie. (IMO), is the inspection and certifying agency for the group. We are certified for USDA, EU, JAS and NPOP. All factories have been inspected by SGS India, for implementation and certification of HACCP standards (SQF 2000cm). Six Darjeeling estates and the Assam Organic Estates are already certified under this scheme with the remaining gardens are under the process of certification. Stringent quality control has ensured a track record of consistency and has earned Chamong the goodwill of buyers worldwide.

At PLMA

In line with Chamong’s Organic philosophy and to fight global warming they will be sponsoring planting of one tree per kg of tea sold and also offering 3% discount towards sampling and tea tasting etc.
Please be sure to visit Mayank Bansal at Chamong’s Booth 2224 during PLMA’s 2007 Private Label Trade Show in Chicago.

After PLMA, Mayank Bansal, Chamong Tea Group, 645 Countess Drive, Yardley, PA 19067, phone: +1 267-233-0046, email: info@chamongtea.com, website: www.chamongtea.com.