Mughal Horseman Tea

Mughal Horseman’s Tea from Bangladesh is the newest offering from Rakkasan Tea Company. A black tea, it is “organic, rare and hand-plucked,” very smooth with no tannic bitterness.  This tea has quickly become one of my favorite teas from Rakkasan’s offering.  The location of origin of this tea is

from a garden in the Tetulia region bound by the Himalayas to the north and the Brahmaputra and Ganges rivers to the south. 

Rakkasan Tea Company

The tea estate was founded 20 years ago to provide an economic boost to the region through jobs and the sales of tea. The People’s Republic of Bangladesh was established in 1971 following colonial rule by Britain 1700-1947 and Pakistani rule 1947-1971. A series of conflicts and coups prolonged violence until parliamentary rule was established in 1991. The CIA reported as of April 2020 that the economy had grown since 2005 even though there were “periods of political instability, poor infrastructure, corruption, insufficient power supplies, and lagging economic reforms” (cia.gov/Bangladesh World Fact Book).

Great Mogul and his court returning. By Edwin Lord Weeks. Public Domain. Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18636318

The Mughal Empire was established in the 15^th century and was initially a cavalry-based army originating in Central Asia.  The Mughal cavalry also used elephants, but these were normally for the generals, as the primary use of elephants was to transport goods and heavy guns.  The name Mughal Horseman tea is a reference to the role of the Mughal Empire in using warhorses.  The Mughal army used mounted archers, a technique that equipped them well to prevail over infantry.  The use of the matchlock musket by ground troops propelled warfare into greater success by providing additional cover for the horsemen ( see for example, Khan, I. A. 1998. The matchlock musket in the Mughal Empire: An instrument of centralization. Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 59, 341-359). In 1689, inventory of one detachment catalogued 28,800 horsemen along with 5633 musketeers. By 1674, musketeers were increasingly mounted horseback when the use of flintlocks began, a lighter and easier-to-fire weapon from astride a horse.  As the revolt against the Mughals during the second half of the seventeenth century increased, the Mughal Empire began to decline.

Mughal Horsemen drank tea.