Tourists in Alipurduar now have the option to drink tea blended with extracts of spices, herbs, fruits and flowers.

The Majherdabri tea estate, on the outskirts of Alipurduar town, has introduced the “brew your own blend” concept at its tea lounge near the garden, off NH31.

The lounge, which has already gained popularity because of the availability of tea varieties, both for drinking and in packages, has now come up with the concept to draw more tea drinkers.

“We are offering different types of flowers, fruits, spices and herbs at the lounge. Anybody can add these to the orthodox, CTC and green teas according to their choice and make their own blend,” said Chinmoy Dhar, the manager of Majherdabri.

According to him, it has been found that many tea drinkers want to add the blends to the brew on their own, instead of having it served ready by the lounge staff.

“Now, they can decide the proportion of the blend to make the brew more tangy or spicy. They would also be able to sip teas with multiple blends or by adding one or more blends together,” Dhar added.

The blends at the tea lounge

He said altogether, 42 different blends were available in the four categories (fruits, flowers, herbs and spices).

“For example, if a tea drinker wants his CTC tea with pineapple flavour, a five-gram extract of pineapple will be added,” said Dhar.

Some other blends that are available at the tea lounge are cardamom, ginger, mint, jasmine, hibiscus, rose, strawberry, and mango.

Over the past few years, the tea estate has been working on value-added tea and flavoured tea to draw more buyers.

It has come up with varieties like moonlit tea (tea plucked on a full moon), blue tea, purple tea, jasmine tea, and mango tea.

“Such teas have become popular now. If this blend concept works, we will extend it to some of our other outlets,” Dhar said.