Fake Darjeeling
India and Nepal, 2010s onward
This case is a work of fiction. The characters, names, places and events in the game do not portray real people. The account below is a factual summary, based on public sources, of the case that served as inspiration.
The 87 tea gardens of Darjeeling, on the slopes of the Indian Himalayas, produce about 7 million kilos a year. The volume sold worldwide under the Darjeeling name is estimated to be several times larger. The difference comes from tea grown across the border in Nepal, cheaper and similar, blended into the lots or sold as if it came from the region.
The name has been protected as a geographical indication since 2004, and the Indian regulator has opened investigations into brands accused of blending the product. The practice remains one of the region's biggest economic problems.
Sources
In the game
Five O'Clock Tea
Chandmari Estate, on the slopes of Darjeeling, India, 5:45 pm. Mahendra Pradhan, 78, owner of the plantation, collapsed from his wicker chair on the veranda at 5:15 pm, ten minutes after five o'clock tea.
The game borrows the motive: blending cheap tea from Nepal into lots sold as Darjeeling. The poisoning, the characters and the outcome are fiction.
