Wednesday May 2, 2007 | 10 comments
I had heard that tea gardens were certified biodynamic but frankly speaking I never knew what exactly biodynamics was until we entered into a partnership agreement with Mr. Tamang, who owns Meghma Estate with a plantation at 8000 ft. and his hand made organic, bio dynamic tea factory at an unbelievable altitude of 9800 ft.
What does biodynamics mean?
‘Bio’ comes from the Greek word which means life, and ‘dynamic’ means a moving force. Hence biodynamics is life as a moving force. Biodynamic farming principles and methods are based on the teachings of Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner who in 1924 outlined a method of agriculture that seeks to actively work with the health-giving forces of nature. He developed the technique in response to the degradation and nutrient depletion of European soils.
Biodynamics is the oldest non-chemical agricultural movement in the West, predating, by 20 years, the organic farming movement.
Biodynamics is about gardening using a set of eight homeopathic-like animal, mineral and plant based preparations. These preparations are used at certain times to align with the rhythms of the Earth, Sun, Moon, planets and constellations. Followers of this method of farming believe that energy and life comes from the astronomic features in a rhythm, and activities such as planting and adding preparations are keyed to the astronomical events.
What is the goal of biodynamics ?
The goal of a Biodynamic farm is to be able to support just the right balance of
nature – people, plants and animals, so that no outside inputs such as soil additives or feed for the animals is needed. This is done by carefully timing planting; weeding, fertilizing and harvesting to coincide with the lunar and celestial phases which will most enhance the farm output. Specially made compost consisting of time-tested doses of plants, minerals and animal manure is applied throughout the seasons to enhance plant vitality and soil fertility.
Thank you, Rajiv
this is a very good summary of biodynamic agriculture. As you correctly mentioned, the practice of biodynamic agriculture was “thought-up” by Rudolf Steiner and is part of his model of a healthy way of life. Amongst other things, he also addressed education (he is the founder of “Waldorf Schools”) and ethics.
In regards to drinking tea, biodynamic agriculture has two main benefits. On the one hand, your guaranteed a 100% pure product, that was produced with addressing the tea’s special needs in natural ways. On the other hand, you have a “good conscience” product, since – as Rajiv hinted at – people (in this case the tea farmers) are part of the equation and the farming is done following a principle of “only happy farmers produce a good product”.
Since we’ve been involved with Waldorf, biodynamics, etc. for a long time, we tend to forget that most people don’t really know what these terms mean. Thank you again for writing this article. You reminded me that this kind of education is very much needed (apart from the education about tea in general here in New Zealand).
Not just in New Zealand, Jo. I think most people in the U.S. as well are unaware of biodynamic farming techniques, not to mention the Waldorf educational model.
How organic is organic certification? We need a mechanism to varify. Certifying agencies are getting diluted. Few days back I read an article on this issue. We should sit back and take notice.
Tching is the best podium where such awareness creation will go a long way to educate consumers.
a very important issue that i would like to let people know about is : is the tea worth the price people are paying? what is happening is – because people in north america are new to tea – some crazy people are charging insane prices for teas which are actually worth a few dollars only.
in india we have an auction system which determines the price of basically every tea excepting some really unique and rare teas made in very less quantity like 5 kilos or so.
we would request anyone who thinks that he is not sure what price to pay for a tea to come forward and request us – we will be more than happy to give him the correct prices according to the export market – keeping the quality factors in mind. the purchasing person will get an idea if the price he is paying is worth or not.
tching is a platform that all of us should use to impart our knowledge to each other for the betterment of tea trade.
thanks
ankit
Thank you for an interesting suggestion Ankit. I’m assuming this would be appropriate for teas from India only, as opposed to Japanese and Chinese teas.
I’m wondering if there is a list of recently auctioned teas that would be available for us to see. I’m very curious about the auction and how wholesale prices are set and reflective of those auction amounts. What is the typical mark-up on those prices? Do different countries mark-up differently?
Thank you Ankit for offering to share this behind the scenes information.
Lot Type Garden Invoice Grade Chests Quantity Broker Price Sold Price
4093 Darjeeling ROHINI DJ15 FTGFOP1(CL) 7 C 143 800 OUT
4094 Darjeeling ROHINI DJ17 FTGFOP1(CL) 7 C 143 800 350
4095 Darjeeling ROHINI DJ18 FTGFOP1(CL) 7 C 143 800 OUT
4097 Darjeeling ROHINI DJ20 FTGFOP1(CL) 6 C 122 700 OUT
4098 Darjeeling ROHINI DJ21 FTGFOP1(CL) 5 C 101 900 OUT
4102 Darjeeling ROHINI DJ25 FTGFOP1(CL) 5 C 101 800 OUT
4104 Darjeeling ROHINI DJ27 FTGFOP1(CL) 6 C 122 600 OUT
4105 Darjeeling ROHINI DJ28 FTGFOP1(CL) 6 C 122 600 350
4106 Darjeeling ROHINI DJ3 FTGFOP1(CL) 7 C 101 900 400
4107 Darjeeling ROHINI DJ31 FTGFOP1(CL) 5 P 101 600 295
4108 Darjeeling ROHINI DJ8 FTGFOP1(CL) 7 C 101 900 OUT
Above is a small example of the teas that were sold from Rohini tea estate at the Kolkata auction recently. These are prices per kilo. Normally exporters do a 10 to 20% mark up depending upon the quantity the buyer wants to purchase.
So next time you are planning to buy any tea from India – fell free to ask lochantea for all the details and we will provide you with the approximate prices you can buy them for.
I do not mean to offend anyone but i think it is ethically very wrong for any seller to sell teas for double or triple or at times at 10 times the value of the tea it is worth to a buyer who is unaware of the actual worth.
All we want to establish is fair pricing so that the buyer is not cheated.
Please feel free to ask any questions that you may have.
Take care
Ankit
http://www.lochantea.com
Interesting discourse and follow up remarks. Being fairly new to the world of Specialty “loose leaf” I am gaining a world of knowledge from you all. Thank You all profusely….PJF
Thanks to the Lochans for some great information on Madan’s biodynamic efforts (and the technique’s historical origins). Great stuff.
About tea prices / auctions, the CTTA, or Calcutta Tea Traders Association, (they administer the tea auctions in Kolkata) publishes detailed sales information and market reports on their site. So if anyone is interested, have at it!
http://www.cttacal.org/bulletin.asp
Given that the last update on their site was on March 19, 2007, I’m guessing that the site is updated “relatively” frequently :)
I always find biodynamic farming so interesting. The efforts and publications on practical techniques are very helpful. Here is another great article if you want to check it out. http://artoftea.com/wordpress/?p=79
Greetings Mr Lochan,
I adore Darjeeling tea. I was visiting tea expo most recent and met with the Sarias. They mentioned that quality of tea and price is relative to overall quality. Some days? Manufacture is affected by unpredictable circumstances and lot auction prices of one day? Refelct simply one day? But assured me that Gardens fetching somewhat higher prices are based on accumulative posterity or cups of excellance overall by experienced reviewers. I understand Norwood Prat spent some time at Gopaldhara and spoke highly? Rohini is also owned by same. I was wondering your opinion of their quality? Have you been to these gardens? I also adore Harrods Ambootia. Do you also have example of their lots and auction ratios? As a buyer for Japanese market? Thank you! Namaste. Thalisa Dharma.