Calcutta, April 14 :    Calcutta, April 14:  Tata Tea Ltd has decided to offer teas from its Sri Lankan tea estates for connoisseurs in the country, despite the high customs duty of 100 per cent. The country's largest tea producer has 18 Sri Lankan tea estates in its fold through its joint venture company Watawala Plantations. The tea will be available under the Zesta brand name. 'It has been decided to arrange and sell some of our own Sri Lankan teas in the country,' said P. T. Siganporia, deputy managing director of Tata Tea. The company has made a quiet launch in the south Indian markets, especially Chennai and Bangalore, besides Mumbai. Upmarket teas under the Zesta brand are also being sold through the Taj Group of hotels. 'We know that the company has to pay a high import duty for Sri Lankan tea, but consumers are ready to pay. These teas are meant only for upmarket consumers. At the moment we do not have any intentions of sell Sri Lankan teas in volumes,' Siganporia said. Zesta was first launched in Sri Lanka in a 250 gram PET bottle of premium leaf tea. Zesta also has an extensive range of tea bags, including several fruit flavours. He said Watawala Plantations might not pay any dividend this year to Tata Tea. 'Last year they paid a maiden dividend of 10 per cent to Tata Tea,' he said. Watawala Plantations is a joint venture between Tata Tea and Estate Management Services of Sri Lanka. In 1992, the Sri Lankan government decided to privatise the management of the then existing 22 regional plantation companies, which consisted of tea, rubber, coconut and palm oil. This paved the path for a strategic joint venture between Estate Management Services, a Sri Lankan firm, and Tata Tea, which took over the management of a multi-crop plantation company-Watawala Plantations. Watawala Plantations manages 18 selected prime tea estates with few rubber plantations, as well as Sri Lanka's only palm oil factory. The total area of Watawala Plantations is 12442.13 hectares, of which 41 per cent is tea, 18 per cent is rubber, 8 per cent is palm oil and the rest 7 per cent is kept aside for the purpose of fuel wood. Siganporia said Watawala has fetched best prices in the Colombo auctions in 2001-02. The market for Sri Lankan tea remained buoyant following sustained demand from the Middle East, Russia and CIS countries which contributed to the higher price realised.