At the time, the British were seeking an alternative supply of tea apart from China and attempted growing the plant in several candidate areas in India.

As the Soviet Union replaced the United Kingdom as India's largest tea customers, Darjeeling gardens were supplemented with assamica plantings to accommodate their preference for that variety.

[5] Production methods again shifted in the 1990s as Western Europe and Japan replaced the collapsed Soviet Union as Darjeeling's principal customers and new garden managers were bringing the principles of biodynamic agriculture to their practices.

[6] Darjeeling could not compete with other tea regions in terms of quantity or price (due to its geographic limitations, remoteness, slower plant growth, inability to mechanize, among other factors) or so it focused on quality.

While the certifications provided an indication of a superior product, its practices also helped the gardens cope with erosion, slope instability and soil depletion that had become prevalent with pesticide and artificial fertilizer applications on the rainy hillsides.

[8] In 1983 a logo was created, currently property of the Tea Board of India,[9] consisting of the side profile of a woman holding two leaves and a bud.

Environmental factors combined with a history of organized cultivation and processing has created a terroir unique to Darjeeling tea.

The subtropical and wet temperate forest cover that developed under these conditions left slightly acidic loamy soils with high organic materials.

The second flush is harvested in May and June, after the Empoasca and Homona coffearia have attacked the plant, releasing compounds that create a distinctive full-bodied muscatel flavour in the tea.

The attacks by the leafhopper and moth release defensive chemicals from the plant and naturally begins oxidation process within the leaves.

They are harvested in October–November and provides a herbaceous and soft muscatel flavour but with a fuller body and darker colour than previous flushes, and is compared favorably with Nepali teas.

The leaves are first brought indoors where they are air blown overnight to dry them sufficiently so that their cells can be ruptured, initiating oxidation, when rolled without breaking the leaf.

After rolling, the leaves are left to oxidize on trays before being fired to reduce the moisture level down to approximately 2% and sealing the ruptures which will be reopened with consumer's hot water.

The sorting of the dried product according to tea leaf grading is completed and shipped to Kolkata for auctioning, though many estates sell privately under contracts.

As Darjeeling teas are low in malt and bitter characteristics and are appreciated for delicate floral and fruit aromas, milk and sweeteners are typically not added.

Apart from these estates, a relatively small amount of tea is produced in farm cooperatives but they lack processing and quality control infrastructure.

The West Bengal government is also involved in providing regulatory supervision of numerous aspects of estate operations, including land use and labour agreements.

Labour relations are complex as, in addition to the seasonal influx of temporary workers, the permanent workers can be permanent residents of the estates where, pursuant to the Plantations Labour Act, housing, education, health and other services are provided by the estate, in addition to a base salary.

[25] Studies of this arrangement have suggested that this has negatively effected the livelihoods of labourers, as owners have more than correspondingly reduced their contributions to the required services.