Guwahati, June 7: There is no stopping Halmari when it comes to breaking records in tea - even its own.
After Harrods, London's most famous departmental store, listed it among the top nine gardens this year, the garden today set a new record in fetching the best ever price for CTC.
Halmari today fetched Rs 501 a kg at sale number 23 at Calcutta tea auctions today. The grade was BP (black pekoe) of CTC variety and the total quantity sold was 247.8kg. The last best price was Rs 441, also of Halmari, at the Calcutta auctions last year.
CTC is an abbreviation for crush, tear and curl. Broken pekoe is used mainly for liquor.
The tea was plucked between April 30 and May 2 and is the early second flush. The tea was sold by J. Thomas and Company, the largest tea auctioneer in the world.
The tea was bought by Raju Prasad of Siliguri-based Aditya and Company. "The taste is mind-blowing and almost like Darjeeling tea. I had got enquiries from three buyers from Maharashtra, Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh and Siliguri in Bengal. They were looking for very good tea and price was no issue," he said.
A garden official said the record price had come as a surprise for them as the prices were not good for the first flush. "The tea is mellow and has a golden liquor," he said.
The company has two gardens, Halmari and Duliabam, spread over 534 hectares in Dibrugarh district of Upper Assam. The gardens produce 9.5 lakh kg of tea annually. Halmari is located 28km from Dibrugarh and 430km from Guwahati.
"We are amazed at the demand for good quality tea in the domestic market and the price it can fetch," Amit Daga, managing director of Calcutta-based Amarawati Tea Company Ltd, which owns Halmari, told The Telegraph.
Regarding its ability to break record after record, he attributed this to consistency. The garden boasts of rich loamy soil suited to very high quality tea and has made a place for itself in the hot brew the world over.
It sells its entire produce through auctions to make the process transparent.
Assam tea, with attributes like rich, malty flavour, fuller body, bright colour, briskness and sweet aroma, has become a hot favourite with tea enthusiasts all over the world.
A senior official at J. Thomas said, "Halmari speaks of commitment to quality and has become a popular tea brand now. The price indicates that there are people who are willing to buy at this price locally too."
"This is great news. CTC tea has created a benchmark for itself and this price is a revolution in the world of CTC tea," Raj Barooah, director of Aideobari tea estate in Jorhat, told The Telegraph.
