Bhubaneswar, May 25: Getting grocery and apparel at your doorstep are passé. Now, order a cup of hot tea at the tap of a button. A group of youngsters in the city have come up with an online portal, ekcup.in, where you can choose from a variety of flavours and lose yourself in the aroma of chai.
Their menu includes the traditional milk tea, lemon tea, masala tea, green tea and the much sought after matka tea served in terracotta cups. Their services are available from 10am to 5pm and the cuppa price ranges from Rs 7 to Rs 10.
Sukalyan Das and two of his friends quit their jobs and started an IT firm in 2009. The idea came when they began to work late into the night and craved "gharwali chai".
"Indians don't really need a reason to drink chai and one cannot afford to visit coffee shops daily. Coffee shops are not easily available here either. So we thought if pizzas can be delivered at the doorstep, why not chai? After all, chai is an integral part of our lives," said 30-year-old Sukalyan.
They started operations in February and now they receive around 100 orders a day. But, one has to place a minimum order of Rs 50 to get the home delivery service.
They also have a mobile application for Android phones to place orders. People who don't have an Internet connection can place orders through their landline numbers as well.
Sukalyan and his buddies plan to expand their services to other parts of the state and abroad. "Apart from places, such as Cuttack and other major towns of the state, we will soon launch our services in Kolkata, Bangalore and Delhi," added Jagajit Jena, another member of the team.
They also plan to set up a kiosk at Infocity where people can have tea of various flavours.
But their primary concern is to extend their service hours.
"We have plans to offer tea during late night hours keeping in mind the needs of college students and IT professionals. Once we have enough logistics support, we will start the services," he added.
"We aim to give to our customers that homely feeling when they drink our tea. We guarantee quality and timely delivery. All one has to do is sit back, relax and enjoy every sip," Sukalyan rounded off.
