Jalpaiguri/Jaigaon, April 15: All you have to do is pop a pill or dunk it in a cup of boiling water. The effect is ?more instant? than any ?instant? beverage: You feel refreshed and rejuvenated just as you do after having your favourite cuppa, minus the hassles of preparing it.

Pills made with tealeaf by the Tea Research Institute, full of the flavour and taste of the actual brew, are set to take the markets by storm.

According to researchers of the institute, the product is the only one of its kind till date and will be launched in domestic and international markets soon.

?The tablet is made up of tea and additives and is expected to be popular. This is the first time that a pill has been developed using tea as the basic ingredient,? said Pradip Ghosh, the chief advisory officer of TRI, Nagracata, a branch of the institute, which has its headquarters at Toklai, Assam. The tablet has been developed by Mridul Hazarika, a researcher of Toklai, and his team, Ghosh said. They had been working on it for years.

According to Ghosh, the dark brown-coloured pill would be available in the market, after it is worked upon a bit.

?The existence of astringent in tealeaf has made the tablets bitter. We are trying to mellow the bitterness a bit so as to make it commercially viable,? Ghosh added

Sources said the production cost of each pill has been pegged at 60 paisa. ?We feel people from all sections of society will like the pill. They can either dilute it in hot or cold water or just pop it in their mouths to relish the taste and flavour of brew,? a researcher added.

As far as composition is concerned, Ghosh said the components present in tea, like polyphenol and caffeine, form 80 per cent of the pill while additives, including flavours and sweeteners make up the remaining 20 per cent.

Though many companies are queuing up at the TRA with proposals for commercial production of the pills, officials of the institute are more concerned with obtaining the patent for the ready-made tea.

?We have already applied for patent. There are several proposals from different companies which wish to manufacture the pill. We are positive that the product will be a big hit in the market,? said Ghosh.

According to him, researchers at the TRI are also trying to find out the alternative uses of the brew.

?Experiments are on and we are trying to find out the medical use of the individual components of tealeaf,? Ghosh said.