这种茶你可能再也喝不到了
如果你喜欢品茶，那这里有个坏消息:你的早上常喝的一杯冒热气的大吉岭茶可能很快就很难得到了。
Famously called the "champagne of teas", it is grown in 87 gardens in the foothills of the Himalayas in Darjeeling in West Bengal state. Some of the bushes are as old as 150 years and were introduced to the region by a Scottish surgeon.
它被称为“茶中的香槟”，在西孟加拉邦大吉岭的喜马拉雅山麓上的87个花园中生长。一些灌木已经有150年的历史了，由一位苏格兰外科医生介绍给该地区。
Half of the more than 8 million kg - 60% of it is certified organic - of this sought-after tea produced every year is exported, mainly to the UK, Europe and Japan. The tea tots up nearly 80m dollars in annual sales.
每年生产的800多万公斤茶叶中，有60%都是有机食品，主要销往英国、欧洲和日本。这里的茶合计近八千万美元的年销售额。
Darjeeling tea is also one of the world’s most expensive - some of it has fetched prices of up to 850 dollars per kg. The tea is also India’s first Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) product.
大吉岭茶也是世界上最贵的茶之一——其中一些的价格高达850美元每公斤。茶叶也是印度第一个受保护的PGI产品。
Since June, Darjeeling has been hit by violent protests and prolonged strikes in support of a campaign by a local party demanding a separate state for the area’s majority Nepali-speaking Gorkha community.
自今年6月以来，达耶林一直存在暴力抗议和长期罢工的问题，支持一场由当地政党发起的运动，这次运动要求这个以尼泊尔语为主的Gorkha社区独立成为一个国家。
The upshot: some 100,000 workers - permanent and temporary - working in the gardens have halted work. Production has been severely hit. Only a third of last year’s crop of 8.32 million kg had been harvested when work stopped in June. If the trouble continues, garden owners say they are staring at losses amounting to nearly $40m.
这就导致了大约10万名本来在花园中工作的工人已经永久地或者临时地停止了工作。生产受到了严重的打击。在去年6月停工期间，去年的832万公斤作物中，只有三分之一被收割。如果这件事继续发酵，老板说损失将近4000万美元。
"This is the worst crisis we have ever faced. Future orders are being cancelled, and there is no fresh supply. Connoisseurs of Darjeeling may have to soon switch to other teas until the situation improves," Darjeeling Tea Association’s principal advisor Sandeep Mukherjee told me.
“这是我们所面临的最严重的危机。订单将被取消，没有新的茶叶供应。”大吉岭茶叶协会的首席顾问Sandeep Mukherjee告诉我说:“在情况好转之前，大吉岭的喝茶的人们可能只能选择其他的茶了。”
The harvesting season in Darjeeling extends to roughly a little over seven months - from March to October. It is also divided into four distinct seasons called "flushes".
大吉岭的收获季节从3月到10月持续7个多月。它也被分为四个不同的季节品种，称为“flushes”。
Tea buyers are already feeling the crunch. In India, the tea is fast going off the shelves. Some supermarkets in Japan have said their stocks will run out by November if supplies don’t resume. An importer in Germany says the tea runs the risk of becoming a "limited edition" beverage.
茶叶买家已经感受到了危机。在印度，茶叶很快就会被抢购一空。日本一些超市表示，如果供应不恢复，他们的存货将在11月售空。一位德国进口商说，这种茶有成为“限量版”茶饮的风险。
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.
即使明天动乱就停止了，工人们回到花园，收割也需要一个多月的时间。花园已经闲置了两个多月，杂草丛生。业主们说，茶树已经开始胡乱生长。工人们必须清理或者砍下灌木丛，然后才能重新采摘茶叶。
"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".
“目前，大吉岭茶看将成为限量版茶，”Sanjay Lohia说，他在该地区拥有13个花园。“但我希望品茶的人们能再忍一忍，我们保证很快就能恢复到我们最优质的品质。”
（编辑:jilihua）
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