Wah Tea Estate and the Kangra Valley
Our tea from the Kangra valley, in Himachal Pradesh, comes from Wah Tea Estate, the largest garden in the region, run by the Prakash family since 1953. This is the estate behind our two Indian teas, Kangra Summer Queen and Kangra SFTGFOP1.
Less well known than Darjeeling or Assam, the Kangra valley is nevertheless one of India's oldest tea-growing regions, nestled at the foot of the Dhauladhar range, in the far north of the country.
A Tea Region Almost as Old as Darjeeling
The first tea bushes were planted in Kangra in 1849, barely twelve years after Darjeeling's first trials. Commercial production began in 1852 at Holta, east of Palampur. For several decades, the valley developed as a tea hub in its own right, with its own factories and its own British planters.
On April 4, 1905, an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.8 struck the region, killing more than 20,000 people. The factories, equipped with imported machinery, were destroyed. Most of the British planters left the valley, and local tea production shifted toward handcrafted, manual work, for lack of resources to rebuild the industrial infrastructure. The region never regained the scale of production it had before the disaster, which partly explains its relative obscurity today compared to Darjeeling.
Wah Tea Estate, the Largest Garden in the Valley
Run by the Prakash family since 1953, Wah Tea Estate is today the largest single-owner estate in the Kangra valley, with about 200 hectares of tea bushes. The garden grows black tea, Chinese-style green tea and herbal infusions, on terraces set between 700 and 2,000 meters of altitude at the foot of the Dhauladhar massif.
Since 2019, the Prakash family has lived on the estate full-time and opened a small guest lodge on site, a rare move in the highly industrial world of Indian tea, reflecting a direct, hands-on relationship with the garden and its harvests.
Our Two Wah Grades: Summer Queen and SFTGFOP1
Kangra Summer Queen is a summer harvest, with notes of oak, honey and dried fruit, lifted by a tangy note typical of Kangra terroir. Kangra SFTGFOP1 is a finer grade, rich in golden buds, with a sweet-tangy liquor and a slightly spiced finish. Both are part of our Origin Tea collection, alongside our teas from the Donyi Polo garden in Arunachal Pradesh and our Darjeeling Okayti.
Why an Overlooked Region Deserves Direct Buying
A small region like Kangra, which produces far less than Darjeeling or Assam, depends even more heavily on its direct buyers to survive commercially. Buying directly from an estate like Wah, rather than through a wholesaler who dilutes the origin into a generic blend, helps support a historic tea region that has remained fragile since the 1905 earthquake.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the Kangra valley located?
The Kangra valley is located in the state of Himachal Pradesh, in the far north of India, at the foot of the Dhauladhar range, a foothill of the Himalayas.
Why is the Kangra region less well known than Darjeeling?
The 1905 earthquake, which destroyed much of the factories and drove out the British planters, permanently reduced the region's scale of production. Kangra never regained Darjeeling's commercial prominence, despite a tea-growing history almost as old.
What is the SFTGFOP1 grade?
SFTGFOP1 stands for "Special Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe 1". It is a very fine whole-leaf black tea grade, rich in golden buds, among the most sought-after in the orthodox classification.
What is a "Summer Queen" tea?
"Summer Queen" refers to a summer harvest, generally bolder and rounder in the cup than spring harvests, with woodier, honeyed notes.