A small batch of speciality first flush Darjeeling tea has fetched an eye-popping price of Rs 2 lakh a kg, making it one of the costliest teas ever sold from the hills of Bengal.
The white tea from Badamtam estate of Goodricke, named Moonlight Spring White, is being retailed on an online platform at this unforeseen fancy price, usually associated with top of the line single-malt whiskies or collectible wines.
Teabox, which has offered only 5kg of this variety, claimed it has already been able to sell half the quantity, mostly to buyers in the US. At the price at which it was sold, a cup of Moonlight Spring White would cost around Rs 500.
The small quantity highlights the rarity and the fact that such fancy price does not move the needle of fortune of the Darjeeling tea gardens, which cumulatively produce 8-8.5 million kg, to a significant extent.
For instance, in an auction, the best any garden has ever fetched is Rs 18,000 a kg. But the majority of Darjeeling first and second flush tea is sold privately to overseas buyers at much higher prices and they seldom trickle down to the public domain.
The Telegraph
A batch of Makaibari is known to have been sold at $1,830 a kg a few years back, which today will translate into Rs 1.28 lakh a kg.
“This is great news even as the tea industry is going through a difficult phase, especially in Assam and Dooars, because of the wage hike and price drop. Darjeeling is still better compared to those regions,” Atul Asthana, managing director of Goodricke Group Ltd, said
Badamtam is one of the gardens that Goodricke owns in Darjeeling, along with Margaret’s Hope and Castleton.
First and second flush put together account for 55 per cent of Darjeeling production by volume and 75 per cent by price.
This specific tea was grown at an altitude of 4,800 ft on the slope facing the Kanchenjunga in an area of the estate called the “Lama” division.
Kausshal Dugarr, founder of Teabox, said the procurement team from the company travelled to 20 estates in the hills to select this exclusive batch of tea.
“The fact that buyers have bought at this price demonstrate the quality of this special batch which was produced on March 14,” he said.
The special clone (variety of tea bush), named AV2, and the high altitude, made the difference apart from the process which was followed to produce this tea.
All top gardens produce white tea in very small batches every year, which consistently fetch fancy prices, but not to the extent claimed by Teabox.
Dugarr emphasised that the marketing of the tea, apart from the quality, had a lot to do. “We tried to tell a story. It is just not tea but an experience,” he said, adding, that the tea industry must take a leaf out of how wine and whiskey is sold.