France’s Love For Tea & Its First Teas Of The World Contest

“Not one cup of tea have I taken without cursing the glory and the ambition that keeps me away from the soul of my life”, part of Napoleon’s letter to his beloved Josephine in 1796.

 

Tea, indeed, has a very long history in France. The first tea came to Paris via the Dutch in the 17th century, a few years before it arrived in London. Soon it became a drink of the elite and the aristocracy. Unlike the British where the tea was and still is a part of everyday household affair, tea in France stayed at the aristocratic salons frequented by the rich and noble. But with the French Revolution tea made an exit from the life of French people (I had mentioned about it in my last blog as well) … until now.

 

Today, tea is finding its foot back to France – slowly, yet firmly.

The silent tea revolution that is undergoing in France for the last couple of decade is developing into a refined and delicate affair – as befits their gastronomic heritage. Inside France, there is a sudden surge for tea that is sweeping the middle classes. In Paris and beyond, specialty tea rooms are opening up successfully. “People are taking classes to learn how to taste and to serve. Literally hundreds of varieties and blends are now available for sale.  A new generation of health- and fashion-conscious consumers has begun discovering the world of tastes that tea can open up.”

It is also not surprising at all then that the French treats their tea exactly like wine!  They explore the taste of tea exactly as they explore the tastes of wine – through different colours, vintages, new growth, single estate, fermented. Today in Paris, even Michelin starred restaurants are taught on how to serve tea instead of wine.

“The French are always interested in the origins of what they eat and drink, and in the cultures that produced it,” says Francois-Xavier Delmas, founder of the Le Palais des Thes chain of tea shops.  Top that up with France’s ‘field-to-table’ agricultural approach, you are sure to get a connection of what you are drinking (or eating) and it’s origin (where it is produced).

 

The story of AVPA started on similar thoughts.

Philippe Juglar (now President, AVPA), Jean-Emmanuel Jourde (current General Secretary and Oil Competition Lead, AVPA) and Boris Hleap (Coffee Competition Lead, AVPA) met more 30 years ago when they were in the coffee import business. They were the first to launch a contest for specialty coffees roasted at origin before it became trendy, with the exact same vision as the association has today. But it was too early, and it didn’t pan out.

In the early 2000s, the coffee crisis and personal interests brought them to other agricultural products, especially olive oils. The association AVPA (Association pour la Valorisation des Produits Agricoles) was created and the contest for edible oils began. Over the year this competition has set standards among the industry while working hand in hand with researchers to remain the spearhead of taste oriented best practices. All the other competitions follow the same path.

A competition for tea was brewing in their mind for a while, particularly keeping in mind the growing interest for this beverage in the country. With the legacy of two successful contests behind them and their strong association for origin of products – “Teas of the World” contest is created – a contest that emphasizes on the traceability of the teas or its origin.

 

“Contests must be a means, not an end: a springboard towards more events oriented towards the general public and hospitality professionals, who are the ones making changes in the way society drinks tea, and also the ones most lacking in reliable information and opportunities to taste great teas.” says Lauren Pascault, who takes care of the “Teas of the World” contest as the Contest Lead at AVPA.  Lauren has previously worked as tea salesperson with Dammann Frères (an ancient company with its origins – as they claim – going back to the days of Louis XIV, but in modern times it helped usher in the French tea revolution) and now runs her own tea consulting and event creation business.

The story of the Teas of the World Contest will not be complete without mentioning two very important ladies in the shadows: Marcela Thimonier and Ksenia Kashirskaya, who are in charge of the day-to-day administrative work, communications and contest coordination, making sure that it takes place as it is envisioned.

“The joy is that it (tea) is all for the French a re-discovery. For centuries we have had no real contact with tea. So unlike British, we formed no habits. This means we can learn about tea as a pure, new product.” Didier Jumeau-Lafond, Dammann Teas quips.

Well, the French has opened their doors and their hearts – teas of the world –  it’s now your opportunity to embrace this newly converted land of love.

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Teas of the World Contest Registration: https://www.avpa.fr/thes-en

Registration Open until 15th June 2018

 

About AVPA:

The AVPA (Agence pour la Valorisation des Produits Agricoles) is a non-profit, non-governmental association that promotes high-quality products of origin through contests. It started 15 years ago with the contest for edible oils (mainly olive), and went on with coffee (6th year in 2018), water (2d year) and tea (1st year).

Tea & Health

I very often get asked these questions:

Is tea really good for health?

What are the health benefits of tea?

Which of the teas I should drink to improve my health?

 

The answer to these questions is very simple :

Tea is NOT a medicine and therefore it should not be looked at only from a health perspective. Speciality teas are like wines; and some of the speciality tea are more expensive than wine or champagne (yes such tea come from India). Therefore speciality tea are for celebrations, snob values, prestige values as well as for lifestyle enhancement or style statements. Tea is such an interesting beverage that even if you drink one kind of tea every day of your life, you will still not have drank all the possible teas available in the world. And tea is also about experience and exploration.

To sum up tea is a philosophy  – you study that philosophy,  immerse yourself into it, get the good things out of it and enrich your life. Tea is not a paracetamol to help you reduce your fever but it is a soothing drink to help you sleep peacefully when you have temperature and make you feel better when you wake up. No other beverage in the world can be compared with the versatility of tea. So let us enjoy it for all the things that it offers to us –  after all, you don’t drink wine because it’s good for your health (they say red wine is good for your heart).

A fine tea is like a good romance. You will never get enough of it. Enjoy Life!

 

For health benefits of Tea, please read by blog post : http://teawithsusmita.com/2017/11/10/all-teas-are-good-for-your-health/

Welcome to France’s 1st Tea Championship – Join AVPA’s Teas of the World Contest

As a tea lover and tea artist, every time I see a Coffee Championship happening, and see the vibrant activities, the spirit of the participants, the-let-your-hair-down attitude and having fun while doing serious stuff – I say to myself, “why not with tea?” I guess, and it is a very personal observation – that the coffee industry runs of co-optation and cooperation; while tea runs on pure competition.

Tea (also wine and coffee) is a knowledge industry and should not be part of beverages industry. Quickly the tea producers, tea brands and tea marketers understand this the better it is for the industry as a whole, globally. And as in any knowledge based industry, it is very important that knowledge is assimilated and shared among all stake holders for the overall growth of everyone within the industry.

 

Therefore, it is heartening to see AVPA’s first ever Tea Championship – The “Teas of the World” (https://www.avpa.fr/thes-en ), in Paris, France has its objectives right. One of their key visions is to bring tea producers, tea brands and tea marketers on one platform and enabling them to learn from each other. Particularly for producers, making tea is such a time-consuming affair that they rarely have the opportunity to look around at what is happening elsewhere and what are the best practices that are emerging every day. AVPA’s Tea Championship is going to be a meeting room for everyone with the objective of knowledge sharing and learning.

“Events are the best way to draw attention (from the professionals, the media, the general public) on an industry in need of recognition and standardisation. Cooking became a professional activity because the last centuries saw associations, competitions and training bodies work to protect workers and set their qualifications. Coffee has gone the same way with the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA), which works worldwide to provide state-of-the-art training and competitions. Tea has not yet succeeded in organizing itself, and it will take many initiatives to do so globally: the AVPA “Teas of the World” contest is one of those.” says Lauren Pascault, the contest leader for Tea at AVPA.

 

But is Tea a legitimate business idea in France? After all, tea lost grounds in France after the French revolution and a general distrust for anything British (the rivalry between the French and British is legendary and it extends to food habits as well!) making coffee the choicest beverage of the intellectuals, the artists, the bureaucrats and the common French people (being served in the army, hospital and school canteens).

Well, it seems like the drinking habits of the French are changing. Health is becoming a real issue and tea is slowly making its way back in France as a gourmet lifestyle beverage. And though they do not consume or buy the most tea in Europe, specialty teas account for a quarter of French sales in value, compared with 5% on the European scale! What better ground then than France for a taste standard, particularly for those tea and brands that are eyeing the very lucrative orthodox tea market of Europe.

 

AVPA’s First Tea Championship wants to give an equal chance and an equal voice to all producers of high-quality teas around the world, along with the supply chain, where exporters, wholesalers and resellers need to be encouraged in choosing and promoting specialty teas. The “Teas of the World” contest is open to any company who is able to give the required information of traceability, and as long as these teas are clearly identified, unflavored, whole-leaf and unblended. All tea-producing countries are welcome – whether it’s new like Netherlands, or old like China and India. They do not believe that the weight of tradition necessarily makes for a better tea, and want to encourage all countries to learn from each other irrespective of their heritage, history and place in the tea producing or tea drinking world.

AVPA’s Tea Championship in France, therefore, not only looks like a great knowledge sharing and learning platform for the global tea growers, brands and tea marketers, but also a platform that makes complete business sense and also an opportunity to enter the European / international markets as well. After all, French certification has great value worldwide.

 

This Tea Championship is also, in a way, a step towards legitimising France’s tea culture. For a long time now, the more popular tea cultures of the British and the Chinese have made the liberal French people feel that their opinions and practices on teas are getting trapped. This is to show to the world that tea has a rightful place in France, and France has a rightful place in the world of tea. Toast à cela!

 

Registration: https://www.avpa.fr/thes-en

Open until 15th June 2018

 

About AVPA:

The AVPA (Agence pour la Valorisation des Produits Agricoles) is a non-profit, non-governmental association that promotes high-quality products of origin through contests. It started 15 years ago with the contest for edible oils (mainly olive), and went on with coffee (6th year in 2018), water (2d year) and tea (1st year).

The team is made of a contest leader for each product, the president, the secretary and the communications officer. They all work with networks of professionals in each product, so as to act as a hub for knowledge, people and tastes!

https://www.avpa.fr/

 

 

Want to get in touch with me?

I am available at itsourcuppetea@gmail.com

 

 

*Pictures are sourced from the internet

5 Reasons Why Some Teas Are More Expensive Than Others

In case you are not a tea connoisseur and are just about embarking on your tea journey, you need some help and guidance on selecting and buying your tea. If you visit a supermarket you shall find various tea brands selling numerous teas at different price points. So, where do you start? How do you know which tea to buy and why one tea is more expensive than other? Or, in simple terms what determines the premiumness or price of a tea? Here is a very simple thumb rule for you for your next tea purchase.. Keep these mind and you will always identify the best tea in each of its category.

Before I begin let me clarify that I shall only be discussing orthodox teas (please see here for definition https://itsourcuppatea.wordpress.com/2018/03/31/why-you-should-drink-orthodox-tea/ ).

Here are the 5 things to keep in mind:

1. The origin of tea
2. The season of tea manufacture
3. Single estate or tea blends
4. The leaf sizes
5. The type of tea

Though these are serial numbered here, when you use them for selection process, they are to be considered all together. So, let me explain each of the above:

1. The origin of Tea – Origin here means country of origin / region / province, for example – Hunan province of China, Darjeeling region of India, Nuwara Eliya region of Sri Lanka, etc. The tea quality and therefore, value changes with different origin. So, even though the major producing countries for tea are China, India, Sri Lanka, and Kenya, a tea from China or India could be more expensive (better quality) than that of a tea from Sri Lanka or Kenya. For example a green tea from China can be more expensive than a green tea from Sri Lanka, as well as from a green tea in India, say Assam. Similarly a Black Tea like Darjeeling can be expensive than a black tea from Assam (both in India) as well as than a black tea from Sri Lanka or Kenya, or even China (though China is primarily known for its green teas).

 

2. The season of the tea – Tea is cultivated (plucked and manufactured) 3 times a year in some regions, and 4 times in some others. However these seasonal cultivations are most prominent for the Darjeeling teas, where each season produces a different kinds of teas. The seasonal produce here is called the Flush, and the spring produce is the first flush, summer the second and autumn the third. Darjeeling doesn’t typically produce any tea in winter due to the weather conditions. The first flush or the spring produce which is plucked and manufactured during March – April is the most expensive and valued tea of the region. They fetch very high prices in the international market. The prices go down with the flush.

In other regions, season doesn’t make much of a difference.

 

3. Single estate or tea blends – It’s a no brainer that a single estate tea will be more expensive than a blend of tea from different gardens or estate. Here again, Darjeeling in particular, is also known by its various very famous tea estates like Makaibari, Castleton, Arya, Badamtam, Gopaldhara etc. The teas from each of these estates are almost like collector’s editions and are considered very premium.

 

4. The leaf sizes – This is a little technical stuff but I shall try to keep it single. Simply put a whole leaf tea will be much more valuable than a tea that consists mainly of broken leaves, or broken leaves and twigs. Also if the tea is all leaves and buds then it is even more expensive. On the tea boxes you shall see terms like OP, FOP, TGFOP which only means the sizes and shapes of tea leaves. For more details, please see here : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_leaf_grading . Just keep in mind that these grading are only applicable for black teas.

 

5. Type of Tea – Last but not the least, the type of tea – white, green, oolong, black, will also ascertain the value of the tea. A white tea will be more expensive than green which may or may not be more expensive than an oolong tea (again this depends on the origin), but definitely more expensive than a black tea.

source : internet

 

Just to give you an example : A single estate Darjeeling First flush white tea will be the most expensive tea in India.

The subject is much more complicated than these simple steps. However, I have tried to give a very basic explanation on why some teas are more expensive than others and what are the things that you should look for before you buy your tea and pay a certain price.

Hope this helps. And if you have any questions, you are most welcome to ask me here or drop me a DM at my Twitter Handle or at my Instagram profile. I shall be happy to help.

 

Email : itsourcuppatea@gmail.com

Twitter : https://twitter.com/TeawithSusMita

Instagram : Tea with Susmita

Why You should drink Orthodox Tea?

Tea actually should mean orthodox tea only, because that’s the natural way to manufacture and drink tea.

However, my above statement will not go so well with the big billion dollar brands ,who make heavy bucks on selling tea which is NOT orthodox. Though majority of the world tea is produced in the orthodox process, it is estimated that at least 40% of the rest of the tea manufactured are not orthodox – they are CTC. This CTC tea is what is mostly available in the market in the branded boxes for the uninitiated buyers.

So, let us understand what is orthodox tea and why they are different from CTC. This understanding is very important to make informed decision about what tea you are going to buy and drink next.

Here it is:

Orthodox tea is made (or manufactured) in the traditional method – that is by hand. Once the tea  – leaves, buds and twigs – are plucked, they go through the traditional processes of withering, rolling, oxidization and firing. This takes time to make one batch of tea. However, this time taking is also responsible for creating the various varieties of teas like the white, green, oolong or black.

Since this is the traditional way of manufacturing tea, it is called Orthodox tea. Orthodox tea manufacturing takes time, needs huge manpower (as some processes can only be done by hand) and are more authentic in terms of it aroma, flavour and brew. Because these teas are made in this traditional ways, orthodox teas give the authentic experience of tea drinking by bringing out more complex and subtle multilayer flavours of tea, making such teas expensive and premium.

Orthodox tea and tea liquor

 

With an orthodox tea multiple infusions are also possible, which in a way, reduces the cost per cup for the consumer.

CTC, which stands for Crush, Tear and Curl, is a mechanized process of tea manufacturing where the plucked teas are put in rolling machines for processing. The machine slices everything of the tea-plant – the leaves, twigs and buds – creating a homogenous variety of standard black tea. Yes, CTC produces only black tea, which comes with a strong liquor and bold flavour . They are much cheaper (and poorer in quality) than the orthodox tea as they are machine produced for mass consumption.

CTC tea shall always require milk to be added to the brew (since the liquor is strong) while drinking, and are mostly used for tea bags which are, in turn, filled with the lowest variety of the CTC tea.

CTC Tea

With CTC tea multiple infusions are not possible.

 

 

Want to know more?

Write to me at : itsourcuppatea@gmail.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TeawithSusMita

Instagram : teawithsus

 

Why Indian Tea is Unique?

India is the world’s second largest tea producer and produces some of the best quality teas in the world. In fact our teas are so good, that our Darjeeling Tea is called the Champagne of Teas. Not only that, when a tea growing nation tries to market their tea globally they benchmark it against our teas (my firsthand experience at this year’s Dubai #Gulfood).

The teas that come from India are, however, very unique as compared to rest of the world. And this uniqueness comes at the very basic level – that is the kinds of teas plants that we have, the produce of which gives an array of teas diversified in flavor, aroma, astringency, body and value.

India is the only country (only other the Szechuan and Yunnan provinces of China), which has teas produced from both the tea plants varieties (there are only two) – that is Camellia Sinensis as well as Camellia Assamica. While Camellia Sinensis came to India from China with the British, Camellia Assamica is a native of India. Our very premium Darjeeling teas are produced from Camellia Sinensis, while the robust Assam, versatile Nilgiris and other teas comes from Camellia Assamica.

Globally this is how teas are produced:

• Sinensis is grown in China, Korea, Japan and in Darjeeling in India.
• Assamica is grown in Kenya, Vienam, India – other than Darjeeling, Myanrma, Sri Lanka etc. Sinensis leaves are being brewed as tea for thousands years now, while Assamica became popular when the East India Company decided to make tea as a commercial commodity for mass consumption.

Relatively small and narrow leaves of Sinensis and larger Assamica

How this makes Indian Tea unique?

Well, to begin with India produces and exports some of the best Orthodox teas that comes from its various tea growing regions.

Second, the Indian orthodox tea (primarily Sinensis and some Assamica) is so good that they are one of the most premium teas in the world and they fetch high dollars based on the estate / garden they come from, or the time of the year that they are produced (very much like wine).

Third, our Assamica teas are used globally to make some of best tea variations, such as The English Breakfast Tea which is one of the most popular teas around the world.

Fourth, the lesser teas are also used in tea blends or flavoured teas where teas are enhanced with additional flavors from flowers and oils to herbs and spices.

It is interesting to know that many tea producing countries are positioning themselves as a source for flavoured teas, while this is an interesting variation to teas that they sell, it has to be kept in mind that only lesser or low quality teas are enhanced – a premium tea like Darjeeling will never be or should never be used for flavouring.

As a Darjeeling tea drinker, I may, at times, indulge myself with some flavour enhanced teas, but they would never be equal to the aroma and flavor of a second or a first flush, single estate, high altitude muscatel Darjeeling 🙂

 

Write to me or share your views at: itsourcuppatea@gmail.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TeawithSusMita

Instagram : teawithsus

 

Next story: What makes a premium tea and what you should look for before buying one?

Tea with TWG, Dubai

If you are in Dubai, and you love tea, you have to be at TWG.

I was in Dubai to visit the #Gulfood 2018. On the last day when everyone was busy wrapping up their booths and giving way their displayed items to the visitors, I quickly took the metro from across the Dubai Trade Center and made my way to reach the Dubai Mall – the largest shopping mall in the world in terms of gross area covered. A part of the 20-billion-dollar Downtown complex, and including 1,200 shops, the Dubai Mall that opened on 4 November 2008, attracts over 54 million visitors every year!

So, on 22^nd Feb 2018, when I became one such number among that impressive number of visitors, I did two things:

1. I climbed up the tallest building in the world – Burj Khalifa
2. I paid a visit to TWG

It’s my love for tea that took me to TWG, but it’s the tea artist in me that was satiated. TWG, the Singapore based luxury tea brand with presence in over 14 countries, is well known for its tea rooms, luxury blends, handpicked teawares and tea based pastries / nibbles.

I entered TWG and was completely taken by the entire display of teas and teawares. Lot of thoughts have been put in creating the aesthetic as well as the functional elements of the tearoom. From colours used to the openness of the place, to the perfectly stitched smart uniforms to the displayed items – everything spoke volume about the brand’s positioning in the market and its vision about tea.

As I introduced myself as a Tea Artist from India visiting Dubai to attend the Gulfood, I was given a very warm welcome. Mr. Chandan Pradhan, the Manager at the tearoom showed me around the place, sharing interesting history or tit-bits about different teas that they had as well as some of the caddies that they have created.

However, nothing beat the feeling of actually seeing a spoonful of tea – they call the Gold Tea – that is priced at AED33,000 ! I figured the tea has actual gold flakes and gold powder! I felt real rich just looking at that wonderful tea.

The Gold Tea with real gold!

At the end of my visit, I was so very kindly, offered to try one of their teas. I happily accepted J I was offered a nice blend of green tea along with some macaroons (which are also made with tea). While the macaroons were a bit on the sweeter side, it perfectly complemented the fantastic aromatic tea that I had the opportunity to sip.

The Tea I sipped

Thank you Chandan for your hospitality even though we had only limited time in hand; and that you come from Darjeeling, the place where my favourite teas come from (and my home state) is indeed, the cherry on the top!

 

Chandan and Me

 

Get in touch with me at itsourcuppatea@gmail.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TeawithSusMita

Tea – Trends for 2018

Tea takes you to places. Literally. So I ended up visiting Dubai to attend the Gulfood Festival and to witness what’s happening for our favourite drink all around the world. And what an experience it was!

The Gulfood Festival was held at the Dubai Trade Center (18^th to 22 February 2018) which with over 1.3 million square feet of covered exhibition and event space, 21 halls, over 40 meeting rooms across 3 floors, and hosting over 500 events annually – is a very impressive infrastructure. I couldn’t visit all the halls and exhibition areas even in 5 days. So instead, I simply remained at the beverages section enjoying the many intertwined  aromas of tea, coffee, juices, health drinks etc and experiencing the bustling activities around.

The Beverages Hall

As expected the tea section was dominated by the Sri Lankan and the Indian tea companies. The tea boards of both the countries were present, along with a host of small tea brands who participated under these two tea boards. There were also quite a few large tea companies who were there independently and had large spaces displaying their variety of teas. I was not surprised to find Dilmah, the very reputed Tea Brand from Sri Lanka, occupying one of the largest booths.

I found that the Sri Lankan Tea companies were displaying lot more functional teas with herbs, flowers, and spice blends, while the Indian tea companies where primarily focusing on pure orthodox or CTC teas and some tea mixes (No!). The green tea, which is growing strong with its positioning as a health drink, was one of the most discussed teas;  while I also found a few matcha tea booths offering interesting innovations.  There were no Chinese or Japanese tea representations, though. But I did found teas from Kenya and Vietnam (collected samples from them – they looked and smelled really nice); and found Argentine mate making inroads into Indian market as a direct competition to green tea. Mate, which is actually a herb, is the national infusion of both Argentina and Uruguay.

Tea trends in 2018

Based on my 5 day visit and after talking to quite a few tea suppliers from India, Sri Lanka, Kenya; buyers from UAE, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Russia (and others); tea brands from North America, Europe and Asia, here are my top 5 trends for tea in 2018:

1. Teas with functional ingredients are going to be the next big trend, primarily riding on the health benefit platform that most teas – particularly green teas – are offered with.
2. Herbal Teas are becoming very popular for the European and the American market (USA & Canada).
3. Look out for cold pressed teas.
4. Healthier tea drinking options – example iced tea without sugar.
5. Gourmet and specialty teas which have stories to tell.

My view:

Instead of copying the trends in coffee, which I am increasingly finding in tea, tea companies should focus on their own innovations and creativity. Tea is a more dynamic and versatile beverage as compared to coffee, therefore, imitating coffee trends for tea would be, literally, underplaying the possibilities that tea as a drink offers.

Tea is more like wine. While health is a great platform to be in for tea, tea should and must be positioned as a celebratory drink that can match every mood of one’s daily life.

Here’s to that cuppa!

 

Write to me at itsourcuppatea@gmail.com

Tea Tasting and Evaluation for a Tea Startup

A new tea startup approached me sometimes back to help them with tea tastings and evaluation and help them with the right tea selection for their portfolio. I was happy to do so for them. I received 7 samples of tea –though I asked for only 4, and tried 5 of their teas.

The teas were sent to me in small plastic pouches, which interfered with the tea aromas giving them a little plastic smell. However, the tea inside didn’t lose its character much and the tasting went on good. I would not recommend packing teas in these kind of plastic pouches ever, particularly if you are sending it for trial or tasting purpose:

 

Here are my observations after tasting their teas:

Name of the Tea: EMCT – B9#

Aroma: A typical grassy green tea smell after the brew.

Flavour: A very strong bitter taste.

Brewing Time:  2-3 min.

Comments: The tea looks like grass blades and is very smooth and silky to touch. The bitter taste was very strong and it stayed for a while on the tongue and mouth.

Pictures below:

 

Name of the Tea:  CTC – F MSD

Aroma: A very grassy smell which was not very pleasant on the nose; however green tea lovers may like it.

Flavour: For such a strong smelling tea, the taste was very smooth. I was quite surprised by it.

Brewing Time:  2 min.

Comments: Dried / just bit smoky smell when you smell the leaves. Comparable to most good green teas (not tea bags) available in the market.

Pics below:

 

Name of the Tea: 95101 – 174C530

Aroma: A very intense smell.

Flavour: Tastes more like an oolong tea

Brewing Time:  3 min.

Comments: The tea is all whole dry leaves with stem. A darker brew than a traditional green tea; quite different than the most available in the market. Can be positioned as nice and different green tea.

Pics below:

Name of the Tea: CTCS – 17A6528

Aroma: A very raw, oily smell after the brew; nice dry grass smell as whole leaf.

Flavour: Mild to strong in taste, but smooth with a very interesting flavour.

Brewing Time:  2 min.

Comments:  Darker brew. Tea is all dried whole leaves. A nice relaxing tea, though more oolong-ish than green after brew.

Pics Below:

Name of the Tea: MSDCTC S

Aroma: The lose leaf has a kind of a semi dried smell, while the brew is little smoky.

Flavour: A very non green tea taste, good for those who like a little darker brew.

Brewing Time:  2 min.

Comments: The lose tea looks like tea granules; it nicely opens up when brewed. A nice refreshing tea. Recommended.

Pics below:

 

Final comments:

I liked most of your teas; though found a couple of them are more like Oolong tea than green tea. However, I also feel that most of your green teas can be positioned as premium green teas and sold to the real tea connoisseurs rather than to those following the green tea fad with major focus on the price, packaging and delivery.

 

If you want me to taste / evaluate your teas, please write to me at itsourcuppatea@gmail.com

 

A brief history of Tea in India

The history of tea is as fascinating as the history of mankind. Some believe that tea was first ‘discovered’ some 4000 years ago in China when a king, who was sleeping under a tree had kept his hot cup of water, right next to him, to be taken when he woke up. The story goes that some leaves of the tree, under which he was sleeping, fell on the hot boiling water. When the king woke up he found the leaves floating on the water, the colour changed and a beautiful aroma coming out of it. He took a sip to see what that aroma tasted like and he was amazed. He fell in love with the brew! The rest, as they say is history.

While this is a very convincing story about the invention of tea as a beverage from China, many a tea historians are now saying that tea was also very popular in India around the same time. The Indian tea, however, were more herb based with lots of premium spices which were brewed together for a fine pix of delicate aroma, excellent flavour and requisite health benefits. The tea, those days in India, were truly the drinks of the royalty. And saffron, cardamom and basil were some of our choices spices and herbs.

However, credit should be given to the British who made this Asian drink a truly global beverage. Such was their love for tea that when they couldn’t get tea from China, they picked up some Chinese Tea Plants (Camellia Sinesis) and planted them in high altitude Himalayas in the Darjeeling. Slowly tea cultivation moved to other parts of India like Assam, Nilgiris, Himachal and neighbouring country like Sri Lanka; and in no time, tea became one of the most profitable cash crops for the British empire from India.

The Indian citizens, however, took time to get used to the British tea, and it was not until middle of 20th entury that Indians, mainly the elite class Bengalis, took to teas as a regular beverage. Until then Indians were still having their herbal teas mixed and brewed in their homes.

The British, unlike the French, love to have their tea with a hint of milk and a dash of sugar. India converted to milk tea; and perhaps, due to the love and faith that Indians have on milk and its health attributes, it slowly became a cooked, boiled tea in milk and sugar, rather than the brewed tea that the British sip.

 

A cup of Tea

The Chai

This cooked tea that we drink everyday at home, and which we lovingly call, the Chai, or the Kadak Chai, is good for your morning bowel movement perhaps, but it kills all the goodness of tea. Chai, after all is a concoction of milk, water, sugar with pinch of dusty tea. And it’s sad that while we produce some of the best and most premium whole teas in the world, we end up drinking the tea that are neither good for our health, nor are they premium. Many problems like indigestion, bloated stomach, laziness, blood sugar, etc comes from this milk tea with sugar.

The time has come for us to switch over to the healthy teas that are brewed correctly, and take pride of the finest teas that we produce in India that the world die for.