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HIMCOOP

Himalayan Tea Producers Cooperative Ltd.

Nepal's tea,
offered to the world
as one.

Founded in 2003 as the collective marketing arm of HOTPA, HIMCOOP brings Nepal's growers, processors and exporters behind a single, accountable point of contact for international buyers.

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2003

Registered under the Cooperative Act of Nepal

7

Tea-growing districts represented

2,000m

Elevation of the highest member gardens

Non-profit

Member-owned, with no external shareholders

01 — Who we are

The collective voice of Nepal's tea industry.

Nepal has grown tea since the 1860s, but for most of that history its finest leaf left the country anonymously — absorbed into blends carrying another origin's name. Producers had the terroir and the craft; what they lacked was a route to the buyer.

The Himalayan Orthodox Tea Producers Association was formed in 1998 to change that. Five years later its members registered a dedicated marketing body under the Cooperative Act of Nepal, to do the one thing an association cannot easily do for itself: sell.

Today we represent growers, processors, exporters and tea-growing communities across seven districts. We curate and sample on behalf of importers, blenders, retailers and private-label brands in Europe, North America and Asia; we coordinate export documentation; and we carry market feedback back to the factory floor so that each season improves on the last.

As a non-profit cooperative, we are answerable to the people who grow the tea rather than to outside shareholders.

A single point of contact

One enquiry, one sample despatch and one set of documents, even when the tea comes from several gardens across three districts.

One shared standard

Members work to a common Code of Conduct adopted by the sector in 2006 and reviewed by a compliance committee.

No intermediary margin

Price is agreed directly with the producing member. We facilitate the transaction rather than taking a cut of it.

02 — The portfolio

Six expressions of the Himalaya.

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First flush orthodox tea

First Flush Orthodox

Mar – Apr

Tender leaf from the first growth after winter. Pale, luminous liquor, floral and green-tending, with a brisk finish. The season's scarcest tea.

Second flush muscatel tea

Second Flush Muscatel

May – Jul

Fuller in body and sweeter, with ripe stone fruit, light malt and the muscatel note the eastern Himalaya is known for. Amber in the cup.

Himalayan green tea

Himalayan Green

Year-round

Steamed and pan-fired styles. Clean, vegetal and mineral, with a soft chestnut finish and notably low astringency.

White silver tips

White & Silver Tips

Limited

Unopened buds plucked at first light and withered slowly in mountain air. Honeyed and delicate; measured in kilos rather than tonnes.

Oolong tea

Oolong & Artisan Lots

Small batch

Semi-oxidised and hand-rolled, from orchid-scented light styles to darker roasted lots. Nepal's fastest-developing category.

CTC tea

CTC & Commercial

Bulk

Strong, brisk and consistent, made in the Jhapa plains. Competitively priced for blenders and packers at container scale.

03 — Origins

Seven districts, two very different teas.

Nepal produces around 26,000 tonnes of tea a year. Roughly three-quarters is CTC from the Jhapa plains, serving the domestic and regional market. The remaining quarter is export-oriented orthodox tea from the eastern hills, where elevation, mist and slow growth build the aromatics buyers pay for.

Terraced hill gardens

The eastern hills — orthodox

Ilam, Panchthar, Dhankuta and Terhathum, with newer plantings in Sindhupalchok and Kaski. Between 900 and 2,000 metres on steep terraced slopes, worked almost entirely by smallholder families delivering green leaf to cooperative and private factories.

Share of national output
Approx. 24%
Primary market
Export
Structure
Smallholder cooperatives
Harvest
Four distinct flushes
Tea processing

The Terai — CTC

Jhapa district, at around 300 metres on the alluvial plain bordering India. Warm, humid and highly productive, with mechanised processing, a long picking season and several thousand registered small growers feeding large factories.

Share of national output
Approx. 76%
Primary market
Domestic & regional
Structure
Estates & factories
Harvest
Near-continuous

04 — Harvest calendar

Four flushes, four cups.

A mature bush is picked four to five times a year, and each round of new growth yields a materially different tea. Plan the buying year around the leaf rather than the shipping schedule.

Flush Window Character Relative volume
First Late Mar – Apr Delicate and floral, pale yellow-green liquor with a brisk finish. Lowest volume of the year and consistently oversubscribed.

Scarce
Second Mid May – Jul Fuller body and greater sweetness. Fruity and lightly malty, with muscatel character in the right conditions.

Moderate
Monsoon Aug – Sep Rapid growth under constant rain gives a dark, strong, full-bodied cup with less nuance. The sector's value grade.

Highest yield
Autumn Oct – Nov Cooler nights slow the bush and allow selective picking again. Musky and tangy, amber, with a long finish.

Moderate
Dormancy Dec – Feb No plucking. In near-freezing, dry conditions the bushes consolidate nutrients — and the depth of that rest sets the intensity of the following spring.

05 — How we work

The One Door System.

Nepal's production is fragmented by design — small gardens, small factories, small lots. That fragmentation is what makes the tea interesting and what makes it difficult to buy. Our current priority is a unified international marketing channel that absorbs the complexity on the buyer's behalf.

  1. 01

    Requirement mapping

    You give us grade, volume, certification, target price band and delivery window. We convert it into a sourcing brief and confirm within two working days whether it is achievable this season.

  2. 02

    Curated sampling

    Our tasting panel screens available member lots and despatches a shortlist, each sample labelled with garden, district, elevation, plucking date, grade and quantity available.

  3. 03

    Transparent contracting

    You select lots and price is agreed directly with the producing member at an openly stated figure. We issue the proforma and reserve the tea against its lot number.

  4. 04

    Packing, testing, export

    Lots are packed to your specification and sealed. We coordinate residue and moisture analysis where required, together with the certificate of origin, phytosanitary and quality certificates.

  5. 05

    Feedback and renewal

    After arrival we ask what worked and what did not, and carry it back to the factory floor. Repeat buyers hold first refusal on equivalent lots the following year.

Begin a sourcing conversation

06 — Quality & responsibility

A written code, not a claim.

In 2006 Nepal's orthodox sector agreed a single Code of Conduct binding on all participating companies, covering cultivation, processing and market promotion alike. Compliance is reviewed by a dedicated committee. It rests on four pillars a buyer can check against.

01

Respect for nature

Biodiversity conservation and soil fertility over extraction: composting in place of soluble nitrogen, a restricted input list, retained shade trees, erosion control on terraces, and protection of the streams running off these slopes.

02

Respect for people

No child labour anywhere in the chain, and no discrimination by caste, gender or ethnicity. Beyond prohibition: safe working conditions, women's participation in leadership, and support for the education of workers' children.

03

Transparent process

Commercial dealing conducted in the open, from the price paid to a farmer for green leaf through to the export invoice, with records maintained at each handover and available on request.

04

Assurance of quality

A single manufacturing and hygiene standard across member factories, so that a grade means the same thing wherever it was made — verified by cupping and by residue analysis rather than by assertion.

Hand-plucking two leaves and a bud

Every chest tells you where it came from.

Each lot carries a number, and behind that number sits a record: the named garden and district, elevation, exact plucking date, manufacture style and grade, the panel's cupping sheet, and the laboratory analysis. Your customers can follow the leaf from the ridge line to the teapot, and you can answer a question about a shipment two years after it landed.

Districts
Ilam, Panchthar, Dhankuta, Jhapa
Elevation
300 m – 2,000 m
Certifications
Organic, fair trade, HACCP
National mark
Nepal Tea, administered by NTCDB

Responsibility in practice

Organic and soil. Most orthodox leaf comes from families farming half a hectare of steep hillside. Many were working without synthetic inputs long before anyone offered them a certificate for it; our role is to help document, finance and certify what already happens.

Biodiversity and water. Gardens sit directly below forest and directly above villages, which makes every management decision a watershed decision. Shade trees, terrace maintenance and spring protection are treated accordingly.

Livelihoods. When farmers collectively own the processing and marketing stages, the margin stays in the district and the green-leaf price becomes a matter of published record rather than of negotiation from a weak position.

Measurement. We would rather publish a figure we can stand behind than a photograph of a leaf. Certified area, supplying households, green-leaf prices paid and training delivered are the indicators we are building reporting around.

07 — Governance

Accountable to the people who grow the tea.

HIMCOOP operates on one member, one vote, regardless of the size of the garden behind it. The General Assembly elects the Board of Directors and, separately, an Audit Committee that reports to the membership rather than to the board. Surplus is reinvested in quality development, promotion and member services.

Board of Directors

Mr. Kamal Raj Mainali

Chairman

Mr. Gopal Chandra Dahal

Vice Chairman

Mr. Yogesh Khatri

General Secretary

Mr. Ravi Rathi

Treasurer

Mr. Dil Kumar Rai

Board Member

Ms. Tara Baskota

Board Member

Ms. Twishtina Subba

Board Member

Audit Committee

Mr. Govinda Lamichhane

Coordinator

Ms. Nikita Nepal

Member

Mr. Pandav Prasad Timsina

Member

“Transparency, fairness and cooperation define our operating philosophy. We are driven not by commercial gain, but by the collective prosperity of Nepal's tea industry.”

Board of Directors, HIMCOOP

08 — Enquiries

Let's talk tea.

Buyers, distributors, retailers and prospective members are all welcome. Tell us the grade, volume, certification and timeline you need, and our secretariat will respond within two working days.

Office
Anamnagar
Kathmandu, Nepal
Email
info@himcoop.org
Web
himcoop.org
Office hours
Sunday – Friday, 10:00–17:00
Nepal Standard Time (UTC+5:45)
Registration
Registered under the Cooperative Act of Nepal, 2003. Collective marketing arm of HOTPA.

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