-
Darjeeling
- The Colorful History and Precarious Fate of the World's Greatest Tea
- Narrated by: Fajer Al-Kaisi
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $24.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Story of Tea
- A Cultural History and Drinking Guide
- By: Mary Lou Heiss, Robert J. Heiss
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Wiley
- Length: 17 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Whether it's a delicate green tea or a bracing Assam black, a cup of tea is a complex brew of art and industry, tradition and revolution, East and West. In this sweeping tour through the world of tea, two veteran tea traders chronicle tea's influence across the globe and provide a complete reference for choosing, drinking, and enjoying this beverage. The Story of Tea begins with a journey along the tea trail, from the lush forests of China, where tea cultivation first flourished, to the Buddhist temples of Japan, to the vast tea gardens of India, and beyond.
-
-
Painfully Boring
- By Erick DuPree on 04-25-22
By: Mary Lou Heiss, and others
-
Infused
- Adventures in Tea
- By: Henrietta Lovell
- Narrated by: Henrietta Lovell
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Henrietta Lovell is on a mission to revolutionize the way we drink tea by replacing industrially produced teabags with the highest quality tea leaves. Infused invites us to discover these remarkable places, introducing us to the individual growers and household-name chefs Lovell has met along the way - and reveals the true pleasures of tea. The result is a delicious infusion of travel writing, memoir, and recipes, all written with Lovell's unique charm and wit.
-
-
Absolutely wonderful!!! A must read/ listen
- By Manish Puri on 07-11-20
By: Henrietta Lovell
-
The Celtic World
- By: The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Professor Jennifer Paxton PhD
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Following the surge of interest and pride in Celtic identity since the 19th century, much of what we thought we knew about the Celts has been radically transformed. In The Celtic World, discover the incredible story of the Celtic-speaking peoples, whose art, language, and culture once spread from Ireland to Austria. This series of 24 enlightening lectures explains the traditional historical view of who the Celts were, then contrasts it with brand-new evidence from DNA analysis and archeology that totally changes our perspective on where the Celts came from.
-
-
Focuses on what the lecturer is interested in
- By Marc on 07-29-18
-
At Home
- A Short History of Private Life
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 16 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bill Bryson and his family live in a Victorian parsonage in a part of England where nothing of any great significance has happened since the Romans decamped. Yet one day, he began to consider how very little he knew about the ordinary things of life as he found it in that comfortable home. To remedy this, he formed the idea of journeying about his house from room to room to “write a history of the world without leaving home.”
-
-
Another wonderful Bryson
- By Tina on 10-23-10
By: Bill Bryson
-
Cooked
- A Natural History of Transformation
- By: Michael Pollan
- Narrated by: Michael Pollan
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Cooked, Pollan discovers the enduring power of the four classical elements - fire, water, air, and earth - to transform the stuff of nature into delicious things to eat and drink. Apprenticing himself to a succession of culinary masters, Pollan learns how to grill with fire, cook with liquid, bake bread, and ferment everything from cheese to beer. Each section of Cooked tracks Pollan’s effort to master a single classic recipe using one of the four elements.
-
-
A bit bland
- By Mark on 12-12-14
By: Michael Pollan
-
Salt
- A World History
- By: Mark Kurlansky
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
So much of our human body is made up of salt that we'd be dead without it. The fine balance of nature, the trade of salt as a currency of many nations and empires, the theme of a popular Shakespearean play... Salt is best selling author Mark Kurlansky's story of the only rock we eat.
-
-
More than SALT
- By Karen on 03-12-03
By: Mark Kurlansky
-
The Story of Tea
- A Cultural History and Drinking Guide
- By: Mary Lou Heiss, Robert J. Heiss
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Wiley
- Length: 17 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Whether it's a delicate green tea or a bracing Assam black, a cup of tea is a complex brew of art and industry, tradition and revolution, East and West. In this sweeping tour through the world of tea, two veteran tea traders chronicle tea's influence across the globe and provide a complete reference for choosing, drinking, and enjoying this beverage. The Story of Tea begins with a journey along the tea trail, from the lush forests of China, where tea cultivation first flourished, to the Buddhist temples of Japan, to the vast tea gardens of India, and beyond.
-
-
Painfully Boring
- By Erick DuPree on 04-25-22
By: Mary Lou Heiss, and others
-
Infused
- Adventures in Tea
- By: Henrietta Lovell
- Narrated by: Henrietta Lovell
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Henrietta Lovell is on a mission to revolutionize the way we drink tea by replacing industrially produced teabags with the highest quality tea leaves. Infused invites us to discover these remarkable places, introducing us to the individual growers and household-name chefs Lovell has met along the way - and reveals the true pleasures of tea. The result is a delicious infusion of travel writing, memoir, and recipes, all written with Lovell's unique charm and wit.
-
-
Absolutely wonderful!!! A must read/ listen
- By Manish Puri on 07-11-20
By: Henrietta Lovell
-
The Celtic World
- By: The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Professor Jennifer Paxton PhD
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Following the surge of interest and pride in Celtic identity since the 19th century, much of what we thought we knew about the Celts has been radically transformed. In The Celtic World, discover the incredible story of the Celtic-speaking peoples, whose art, language, and culture once spread from Ireland to Austria. This series of 24 enlightening lectures explains the traditional historical view of who the Celts were, then contrasts it with brand-new evidence from DNA analysis and archeology that totally changes our perspective on where the Celts came from.
-
-
Focuses on what the lecturer is interested in
- By Marc on 07-29-18
-
At Home
- A Short History of Private Life
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 16 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bill Bryson and his family live in a Victorian parsonage in a part of England where nothing of any great significance has happened since the Romans decamped. Yet one day, he began to consider how very little he knew about the ordinary things of life as he found it in that comfortable home. To remedy this, he formed the idea of journeying about his house from room to room to “write a history of the world without leaving home.”
-
-
Another wonderful Bryson
- By Tina on 10-23-10
By: Bill Bryson
-
Cooked
- A Natural History of Transformation
- By: Michael Pollan
- Narrated by: Michael Pollan
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Cooked, Pollan discovers the enduring power of the four classical elements - fire, water, air, and earth - to transform the stuff of nature into delicious things to eat and drink. Apprenticing himself to a succession of culinary masters, Pollan learns how to grill with fire, cook with liquid, bake bread, and ferment everything from cheese to beer. Each section of Cooked tracks Pollan’s effort to master a single classic recipe using one of the four elements.
-
-
A bit bland
- By Mark on 12-12-14
By: Michael Pollan
-
Salt
- A World History
- By: Mark Kurlansky
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
So much of our human body is made up of salt that we'd be dead without it. The fine balance of nature, the trade of salt as a currency of many nations and empires, the theme of a popular Shakespearean play... Salt is best selling author Mark Kurlansky's story of the only rock we eat.
-
-
More than SALT
- By Karen on 03-12-03
By: Mark Kurlansky
-
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
- A Year of Food Life
- By: Barbara Kingsolver
- Narrated by: Barbara Kingsolver, Steven L. Hopp, Camille Kingsolver
- Length: 14 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Barbara Kingsolver and her family move from suburban Arizona to rural Appalachia, they take on a new challenge: to spend a year on a locally-produced diet, paying close attention to the provenance of all they consume. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle follows the family through the first year of their experiment.
-
-
Eye opening
- By Sydney on 11-12-07
-
The Mezcal Rush
- Explorations in Agave Country
- By: Granville Greene
- Narrated by: Kevin Free
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mezcal. In recent years, the oldest spirit in the Americas has been reinvented as a pricy positional good popular among booze connoisseurs and the mixologists who use it as a cocktail ingredient. Unlike most high-end distillates, most small-batch mezcal is typically produced by and for subsistence farming communities, often under challenging conditions.
-
-
Wow! Just Wow!
- By Husband to a beautiful woman on 09-25-17
By: Granville Greene
-
Mycophilia
- Revelations From the Weird World of Mushrooms
- By: Eugenia Bone
- Narrated by: Aimee Jolson
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Mycophilia, accomplished food writer and cookbook author Eugenia Bone examines the role of fungi as exotic delicacy, curative, poison, and hallucinogen, and ultimately discovers that a greater understanding of fungi is key to facing many challenges of the 21st century.
-
-
Absolutely awful, insufferable, racist author
- By Rs 🦇 on 11-25-19
By: Eugenia Bone
-
The Third Plate
- Field Notes on the Future of Food
- By: Dan Barber
- Narrated by: Dan Barber
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Today’s optimistic farm-to-table food culture has a dark secret: The local food movement has failed to change how we eat. It has also offered a false promise for the future of food. In his visionary New York Times best-selling book, chef Dan Barber, recently showcased on Netflix’s Chef’s Table, offers a radical new way of thinking about food that will heal the land and taste good, too. Looking to the detrimental cooking of our past, and the misguided dining of our present, Barber points to a future “third plate”.
-
-
This is what a paradigm shift feels like.
- By Kyra on 02-21-15
By: Dan Barber
-
A Thousand Hills to Heaven
- By: Josh Ruxin
- Narrated by: Will Collyer
- Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One couple's inspiring memoir of healing a Rwandan village, raising a family near the old killing fields, and building a restaurant named Heaven. Newlyweds Josh and Alissa were at a party and received a challenge that shook them to the core: Do you think you can really make a difference? Especially in a place like Rwanda, where the scars of genocide linger and poverty is rampant? While Josh worked hard bringing food and health care to the country's rural villages, Alissa was determined to put their foodie expertise to work. The couple opened Heaven, a gourmet restaurant overlooking Kigali, which became an instant success.
-
-
Loved this
- By Sharleen on 05-16-22
By: Josh Ruxin
-
A Guide to Wine
- By: Julian Curry
- Narrated by: Julian Curry
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Actor and wine expert Julian Curry has devised a unique audiobook guide to wine. The whole subject is introduced and explained how wine is made, the different grapes, the different blends, vintages, wine-growing areas and types. In an entertaining and informal style, he also teaches how to taste wine, and how to choose and store it.
-
-
Comprehensive overview
- By Laurence on 09-26-03
By: Julian Curry
-
Breakfast in Burgundy
- A Hungry Irishman in the Belly of France
- By: Raymond Blake
- Narrated by: John Keating
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Laced with compelling writing about French food and its ways, Breakfast in Burgundy is part travel memoir, part foodie detective story, and part love song to Raymond's adopted home. This audiobook tells the story of the Blake's decision to buy a house in Burgundy. Raymond describes the moments of despair such as the water leak that cost a fortune and the fantastic times too. Blake has admitted to being fascinated by flavor and how it is created."
-
-
surprisingly lulz and interesting
- By Amazon Customer on 12-02-21
By: Raymond Blake
-
Rice, Noodle, Fish
- Deep Travels Through Japan's Food Culture (Roads & Kingdoms Presents, Book 1)
- By: Matt Goulding
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An innovative new take on the travel guide, Rice, Noodle, Fish decodes Japan's extraordinary food culture through a mix of in-depth narrative and insider advice. In this 5,000-mile journey through the noodle shops, tempura temples, and teahouses of Japan, Matt Goulding, cocreator of the enormously popular Eat This, Not That! book series, navigates the intersection between food, history, and culture, creating one of the most ambitious and complete books ever written about Japanese culinary culture from the Western perspective.
-
-
Starts strong tapers off
- By Craig Bryan on 01-02-21
By: Matt Goulding
-
Cod
- A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World
- By: Mark Kurlansky
- Narrated by: Richard M. Davidson
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Talk about a fish story! New York Times and Harper's columnist Mark Kurlansky offers "history filtered through the gills of the fish trade." David McCullough, the historian behind John Adams, says Kurlansky's "charming tale" of a "seemingly improbable idea" will change the way people think of the fish and the history.
-
-
A great fish story
- By Karen on 10-13-03
By: Mark Kurlansky
-
The Bizarre Truth
- How I Walked Out the Door Mouth First...and Came Back Shaking My Head
- By: Andrew Zimmern
- Narrated by: Andrew Zimmern
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Andrew Zimmern, the host of The Travel Channel’s hit series Bizarre Foods, has an extraordinarily well-earned reputation for traveling far and wide to seek out and sample anything and everything that’s consumed as food globally. Having eaten his way around the world over the course of four seasons of Bizarre Foods, Zimmern has now launched Bizarre Worlds, a new series on the Travel Channel, and this, his first book, a chronicle of his journeys as he not only tastes the “taboo treats” of the world, but delves deep into the cultures and lifestyles of locales.
-
-
If you are a Zimmern fan, you will love this book!
- By Steven on 05-25-12
By: Andrew Zimmern
-
The American Way of Eating
- Undercover at Walmart, Applebee's, Farm Fields and the Dinner Table
- By: Tracie McMillan
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What if you can't afford nine-dollar tomatoes? That was the question award-winning journalist Tracie McMillan couldn't escape as she watched the debate about America's meals unfold, one that urges us to pay food's true cost-which is to say, pay more. So in 2009 McMillan embarked on a groundbreaking undercover journey to see what it takes to eat well in America. For nearly a year, she worked, ate, and lived alongside the working poor to examine how Americans eat when price matters.
-
-
A bit disappointing
- By Harbinger of books on 01-06-14
By: Tracie McMillan
-
19 Lessons on Tea
- Become an Expert on Buying, Brewing, and Drinking the Best Tea
- By: 27Press
- Narrated by: Natalie Gray
- Length: 2 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The world of premium quality tea is every bit as complex and fascinating as wine, and 19 Lessons On Tea is the ultimate guide to everything you need to know about this healthy and flavorful daily indulgence.
-
-
Not what I expected...
- By Emre Gurcan on 10-17-16
By: 27Press
Publisher's Summary
Darjeeling's tea bushes run across a mythical landscape steeped with the religious, the sacred, and the picturesque. Planted at high elevation in the heart of the Eastern Himalayas, in an area of Northern India bound by Nepal to the west, Bhutan to the east, and Sikkim to the north, the linear rows of brilliant green, waist-high shrubs that coat the steep slopes and valleys around this Victorian "hill town" produce only a fraction of the world's tea and less than 1 percent of India's total. Yet the tea from that limited crop, with its characteristic bright, amber-colored brew and muscatel flavors - delicate and flowery, hinting of apricots and peaches - is generally considered the best in the world.
This is the story of how Darjeeling tea began, was key to the largest tea industry on the globe under imperial British rule, and came to produce the highest-quality tea leaves anywhere in the world. It is a story rich in history, intrigue, and empire, full of adventurers and unlikely successes in culture, mythology and religions, ecology and terroir, all set with a backdrop of the looming Himalayas and drenching monsoons. The story is ripe with the imprint of the raj as well as the contemporary clout of "voodoo farmers" getting world-record prices for their fine teas - and all of it beginning with one of the most audacious acts of corporate smuggling in history. But it is also the story of how the industry spiraled into decline by the end of the 20th century and how this edenic spot in the high Himalayas seethes with union unrest and a violent independence struggle. It is also a front-line fight against the devastating effects of climate change and decades of harming farming practices, a fight that is being fought in some tea gardens - and, astonishingly, won - using radical methods.
Jeff Koehler has written a fascinating chronicle of India and its most sought-after tea.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.
More from the same
What listeners say about Darjeeling
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jean
- 07-11-15
Fascinating
This is a most interesting book. The author has done extensive research not only into how to grow, harvest, pack the tea but the proper way to brew and drink tea. Koehler is a natural story teller which makes the book a delight to read.
The area or region of Darjeeling sits in the upper right hand corner of India. The mountainous region is bordered by Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan and the area has been unchanged for the past 150 years. This area produces the most expensive tea in the world.
Koehler tells the tale of how the British, who have acquired a taste for tea, sent out Scottish botanist Robert Fortune on a dangerous, covert mission into mainland China to smuggle out the tools to launch a new tea growing area in British India. The story of Robert Fortune reads like a spy novel.
Fortune smuggled out hundreds of tea bushes along with eight Chinese tea experts to the former Mughal garden in Saharanpur along the Indian foothills of the Himalayas. The Chinese tea flourished in the mountains but did not do as well in the low lands. The area called Assam is the main area for the native Indian tea. By the end of the 19th century, Britain was importing less than half of its tea from China most now coming from India.
Koehler tells about the tea plantation, he says they are called tea gardens. The average tea garden is 553 acres and produces 220,000 pounds of tea. There are 87 tea gardens in Darjeeling. Tea bushes were taken to various areas of India but different soil and temperature produce different teas. Only those grown in Darjeeling can be called Darjeeling tea. The author states the tea gardens are facing many problems that will affect the future of the famous tea, soil erosion, loss of workers, failure to plant new plants and so on. After reading this book one feels almost like a tea expert. Fajer Al-Kaisi narrated the book.
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Cowboy Up!!
- 01-13-19
Darjeeling World Finest Tea
Really interesting book 📖 about Tea in Darjeeling, India 🇮🇳 learn many new details about historical information on Tea and Politics!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Louise Linderoth
- 02-14-16
Enjoyable book
How did the narrator detract from the book?
Certainly not the worst narrator I have come across on Audible - but he managed to mispronounce a lot of especially names of people and places. I'm personally also not a huge fan of narrators who switch from their 'normal' voice to a sing-song whenever South Asians are speaking. While generally read ok, he also introduces some pauses at wrong places - maybe he didn't prepare enough before the recording, but there are definitely sentences that would have benefited from a re-take.
Any additional comments?
The story was very enjoyable and interesting, and I don't regret getting it, despite the not so perfect narrator.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Mrs C E Forsey
- 02-22-21
what a struggle..
Although I am fascinated by the history of tea I struggled to get through this book. It didn't flow and hard to follow. I abandoned half way through