One of the 5,000 boxes containing Darjeeling and Assam tea that will be sent to the Olympics. (Kundan Yolmo)

Siliguri, July 23: Special guests at the Beijing Olympics will not only sip on the famous Makaibari tea, but thousands of them will also be presented with flavoured brew from Darjeeling and Assam as souvenirs.

The Beijing Organising Committee for the Games has approached the Siliguri-based Lochan Tea Limited to prepare 5,000 boxes containing brew produced at the two renowned tea-growing areas of India.

The company has been trading “speciality tea” with China for years.

“It is indeed an achievement for us to receive the order,” Ankit Lochan, a director of the company, said today. “We are readying boxes containing a packet each of Darjeeling and Assam tea. Each packet weighs 250gm. In total, 5,000 boxes will be prepared and sent to Beijing.”

Unlike the Rs 7,000-a-kg Makaibari tea, which will be served at the Games, the assignment placed to Lochan Tea is for souvenirs. Already 333kg of second flush green tea from the Makaibari Tea Estate has been sent to China through the Calcutta airport.

“We have been told that these boxes, along with aromatic Chinese tea, would be distributed among distinguished guests arriving from across the globe for the Olympics scheduled to start from August 8,” said Ankit.

“On behalf of the Games committee, the Beijing Dongli Garden International Trading Company Limited, which has its office in the Chongwen district of Beijing, placed the orders to us,” said the company director. “We are packing pure second flush Darjeeling and Assam tea of the best quality in these souvenir boxes.”

The company is charging $100 for each box, Ankit said.

During the global event, the Games committee will project traditional Chinese brew, like Pu’er Tea, as an official Olympic product or souvenir to promote them in international markets.

The brew is grown in Yunnan province and undergoes traditional methods of refinement before the leaves are compressed to make different shapes and wrapped in traditional lacquer, silk, maple, hand-made paper or other natural material to retain the flavour.

“It is nice that along with Chinese tea, ace Indian tea will also be showcased as souvenirs. This will definitely contribute in the promotion of flavoured Darjeeling and Assam tea,” Rajiv Lochan, representing Lochan Tea, said.