Peggy Carswell at Ketetong during an earlier visit. Picture by Ripunjoy Das

Ketetong (Margherita), May 9: Assam tea has journeyed back to its roots and found a new flavour.

Centuries after a Singpho tribesman, Bisa Gam, offered the ?first cuppa? to British officer Robert Bruce in a remote village, the same tribe is growing an expensive variety of organic tea with the help of a Canadian. The first lot of organic tea manufactured at Ketetong, in Tinsukia district, fetched a handsome Rs 600 per kg.

Peggy Carswell, a member of the Vancouver-based NGO Fertile Ground, undertook the project in the hilly Singpho-inhabited village of Ketetong after learning of the tribe?s contribution to the ?discovery? of tea. Guided by her, a group of Singpho youth set up their own manufacturing unit in the village and started production in March.

The organic tea plantation has already managed to attract the attention of finicky overseas buyers and Carswell, whose NGO has been propagating the benefits of drinking organic tea around the world, is confident it will be a winning venture.

Ketetong, nestled in the foothills of the Patkai hill ranges, has the largest concentration of Singphos in Assam. Pabitra Ningda, a member of Carswell?s group of tea entrepreneurs, said the tribe was proud of Bisa Gam?s legacy and would continue to grow tea ?the Singpho way?.

?Tea bushes grow in the wild in the Patkai ranges and its foothills. It is a natural phenomenon and our forefathers were the first to learn that tea has revitalising properties. The British set up plantations much later and made tea drinking fashionable. As for us, we have stuck to the traditional way of processing tea,? Ningda added.

When Carswell first arrived here a couple of years ago, she discovered that the Singpho way of tea-making was similar to modern methods of processing organic tea. She returned to Canada after launching the project, but remains in touch with the growers through phone and email.

It was Carswell who arranged for the sale of the first lot of organic tea from Ketetong to Canadian and German buyers.

?This is a very encouraging sign. The price our first lot fetched will draw more Singpho youths to organic tea cultivation,? said Rajesh Singpho, another member of the group.

The Singphos never mix sugar and milk with their tea. ?Adding sugar and milk disturbs the medicinal values of tea. Laboratory tests in the West have shown that regular consumption of organic tea is beneficial to diabetics and cancer patients,? Ningda said.

Greater awareness about the demands of the market has, however, made the Singphos open to innovations. ?We will retain our originality, but we also have to keep in mind the tastes of the new generation. We have some plans for value-addition,? Rajesh said.