Flower tea

Guwahati, March 18: Assam’s tea industry never had its path so “flowery”.

A flower tea grown by Greenwood Tea Estate has been bought in the UK for a record price of Rs 4,320 per kg, according to officials of the Assam Company Limited, which owns the garden in Dibrugarh district.

Flower tea is white tea mixed with tea flowers and tea buds. Known as TGFOP1 — Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe grade — in tea parlance, this tea is made from the tea bud and two uppermost leaves of the tea plant and complemented by its flowers.

For conventional tea, two leaves and a bud growing from a common stem is plucked for production. The flower tea is ranked highest on tea grades.

“We have sold an invoice of Greenwood special winter flush TGFOP1. This is the first time that Greenwood has produced this fragrant tea with tea flowers and buds during winter,” Mohan Jamwal, manager of the tea estate, said, disclosing the sale and the record price.

It is for the first time that a winter flush tea produced in Assam has been accepted in the highly competitive global gourmet tea segment. The winter flush tea is the first tea of the season.

The deal was made in the last week of February and the tea has already been shipped. The total quantity sold was 30kg through the UK-based Duncan Mcneill Group, which markets teas for Assam Company.

A tea industry official said speciality tea from Assam, for instance, the white tea, can open up a completely new segment, limited though, for tea from Assam globally.

“These are basically made on order and to boost the brand image of the company,” the official said.

White tea comes from the same Camellia sinensis tea plant, but the leaves are plucked and harvested before they open fully, when the buds are still covered by fine white hair. White tea is scarcer than the other traditional teas, and more expensive.

The tea industry in Assam is picking up as the prices of Assam tea have firmed up in the last couple of years, taking the industry ahead. Instances of some teas fetching record prices will further improve the image.

“White tea production in the Assam region is rare and only a few gardens make it and not many know about this kind of tea” the official said.

A company official said premium teas of Greenwood represent the top segments among both the orthodox and CTC teas, and are known for their “depth”, both in colour as well as strength.

The company manufactures around 15 million kg of tea and is a leading exporter of bulk and garden-specific teas. It has 18 gardens in the state.