In India, making tea is perhaps the first lesson in the kitchen one learns. No wonder that as a country we produce 1.2 billion kilos of tea every year, according to J. Thomas & Co, the world’s largest and oldest tea auctioneer.
To celebrate this nationwide love for the cuppa, City Centre and t2 presented Cha Cha Chai, a tea festival in its second year, in the Kund area of the Salt Lake mall, from February 5 to 7.
The festival drew more than 1.5 lakh tea lovers over the three days, but the highlight of Cha Cha Chai is the fact that it made a convert out of many a coffee drinker.
t2 sipped some of the finest brews and came back tea-freshed!
Those who brewed it
- Makaibari Tea
- Nostealgia l Teesta Valley
- Assam 1860 l Meri Chai
- Hankow Teas of London
- The Tea Trove l Dhruba Tea Centre
- Andrew Yule & Co Ltd
- Golden Tips l Dolly’s The Tea Shop
- Sharma Tea l Chamong
- Chai Talks
- Mission Hill Tea
- Kappas
What the tea-totallers sipped
Going... going... gone!
J. Thomas & Co, the oldest and largest tea auction company in the world
I am in a room buzzing with tea merchants, tea tasters and tea aficionados — all animatedly debating the latest flush and the pros and cons of tea chestlets. A few officials take last-minute notes and finish labelling the different varieties of tea that will soon hit the market.
An audio-visual screen at one end of the room is running a scroll of batch numbers of tea containers, in front of which a suave gentleman has taken position, with a microphone and a gavel on standby.
If you haven’t guessed it already, a tea auction is all set to roll in the makeshift auction room at the Salt Lake mall. As the first batch of tea is thrown open to bidders and the opening bid announced, the mind games begin. Also, the adrenaline rush.
Excitement is palpable in the air as hands go up with the price. Will this tea be worth investing in? Will the next batch be more value for money? What if I get out-bidded? That’s gold, liquid gold, I just can’t afford to miss that batch... Oh no, there she raises her hand again.... I am hooked and I am in a tizzy. This excitement is infectious. What did I buy? A big carton of broken pekoe from the Bormahjan tea garden in Assam.
Tell t2@abp.in
