Tea tasting in Ilam bazaar

Ilam's main road has several shops selling loose orthodox tea, plus packets from the estates and smallholder cooperatives that buy leaf from village growers. Most will brew a few cups if you ask, using small porcelain sets and timers. With our guide we taste three to five teas side by side and talk through what you are drinking: colour, smell, body and the dry feeling some teas leave on the tongue.

First flush, picked from late March, is light and pale. Second flush, from May, is fuller. Autumn flush in October and November is darker and rounder. You will also find green and white teas, and the strong CTC tea most Nepali households boil with milk and sugar. Each has its own brewing time and water temperature, and we show you both, so you can get the same cup at home with an ordinary kettle.

There is no pressure to buy, and we suggest small packs from more than one shop so you can compare at home. Ilam tea is still far cheaper here than in Kathmandu or abroad, and the shopkeepers will vacuum-pack it for your bag. If you find a tea you love, ask which garden or cooperative it came from; many smallholder teas are sold under a shop's own name, and the shopkeeper usually knows the grower.