Why you could soon be missing your cup of Darjeeling tea

Even if the agitation is called off tomorrow and the workers return to the gardens, it will take more than a month to begin harvesting. The gardens have been idle for more than two months, and are full of weeds. Tea bushes have become "free growth plants", say owners. Workers have to clean and slash the bushes before they can begin plucking the leaves again.

Clearly, if the political impasse is resolved this month, the gardens of Darjeeling will be humming only next year - India is heading into a season of yearly festivals, marked by long holidays.

"For the moment, Darjeeling looks like becoming a limited edition tea all right," says Sanjay Lohia, who owns 13 gardens in the region. "But I'd just request the connoisseurs to bear with us, and we promise to be back with the our very best quality soon". For the moment, tea drinkers may have to learn to live without their favourite brew.