A lot of Assam orthodox tea fetched more than a speciality second-flush Darjeeling in a special auction conducted by the Tea Board to promote top quality teas on Monday.

The odd outcome was possible due to an aggressive bid placed by Raghunath Exporters who bought a special variety of orthodox tea from Tata-backed Amalgamated Plantation’s Borhathi garden at Rs 35,001 a kg.

“There are many takers for such top quality teas at this price, which will translate into less than Rs 100 a cup,” Mohan Chirimar of Raghunath Exporters, said. The highest that a Darjeeling variety could fetch was Rs 20,001 a kg. The buyer was Golden Tips Tea and the estate was Goodricke’s Badamtam.

“We will, of course, sell this finest of Darjeeling moonlight teas, as a single estate tea. There are connoisseurs of such quality both abroad and in India,” Madhav Sarda, MD of Golden Tips, said. Uniworld Tea Cheers paid Rs 2,701 a kg, the highest for an Assam CTC variety, which came from Amgoorie estate.