Here, we have published articles related to tea and tea business, written by experts and by everyday tea users. This articles will give you an indepth insights on tea. These will help you take right decissions when you buy tea for your business or for your home use.
Tea is the most consumed drink after water, in the world. Tea being a plant native to East India, it is extremely popular in India as well. India and China together produce more than 60 % of the world’s tea. Due to the majority of Indians being tea lovers, many loose tea varieties are popular in India.
There are four main types of loose tea that are popular in India. All of them come from the same plant. The type they fall into depends on the form of processing they undergo, after being picked. Different teas can be classified as a type into any one of the following:
Black tea
This is the most commonly produced tea. It consists of catechins and flavonoids, and has a sweet aroma. The sweet aroma is due to the process of oxidation.
Green tea
It undergoes the less amount of processing among all the tea leaves. The liquor is refreshing, and is pale-green to yellowish in colour.
Oolong tea
It is a semi-fermented tea. It can be considered as a cross between green and black tea. It also has the least amount of caffeine.
White tea
This type of tea goes through the least amount of processing. As such, it is considered to be a purer source of anti-oxidants than green tea.
A different classification of tea can be done with respect to their source of origin. They are:
Assam tea
Top of the list is Assam Tea. The tea from Assam is rich, full-bodied and dark coloured. It remains a favourite for tea connoisseurs all over the globe. Earlier Darjeeling tea was considerred world famous. But in 2018, Assam tea fetched Rs 40000 per kg in Guwahaty auction center. Its world record. In 2019 june, CTC BOP fetched Rs 600 per KG.
Darjeeling tea
Renowned worldwide due to its unique taste, subtlety and rich tones, this is one of the most popular types of loose tea found in India. It is indigenous to Darjeeling, and the reason for its superior taste is yet unknown.
Dooars and Terai tea
This is grown in the foothills of the Himalayas in North Bengal. The Terai tea is slightly spicy, while the Dooars variety is usually black and light.
Nilgiri tea
This is another variety of tea that is in great demand in loose form. It has a golden-yellow colour and leaves a creamy aftertaste in the mouth.
Annamalai tea
Although the south of India is famed for its coffee, the Annamalai, Wayanadand Nilgiri teas are exceptions. The Annamalai tea has floral notes, a deep golden colour and gives a strong flavour.
Wayanad tea
The Wayanad tea is an exceptional type of tea, providing a reddish colour. The liquor is light and quite mellow to savour.
Munnar tea
Another tea type of southern India, this produces a golden yellow liquor with fruity undertones. It has been compared with dipping a biscuit in single malt whisky and enjoying it.
Travancore tea
This tea is conspicuous with its reddish liquor, which has a faint yellowish streak.
The majority of the teas have been registered as geographical indications in India. For example, Darjeeling tea, Assam tea, Nilgiri tea among others.
B Kannamma
Which tea is better, Assam, Dooars or South Indian?
A vast majority of Indians are tea lovers, and that is proved by the eclectic variety of teas available in India. There are more than 10 different types of tea, with respect to geographical locations, ranging from the north of India to the south and from the western fringes of the country to the east. Some of the most popular varieties are the Assam, Dooars and South Indian teas.
Although it is a subjective matter as to which one is better, we can provide a brief insight into each type of tea, so that prospective tea drinkers have a reference: The description below assumes that tea manufactured in ideal conditions and at least average to better quality in look and taste.
Assam tea
Assam tea is world famous tea, it is a type of black tea. It is has a strong colour with a malty taste, malty flavour, briskness, strong, bright colour. Its strong tea, so it can be blended easily with any low quality. Its strong so Assam tea is very popular breakfast drinks all over the world. The “Irish breakfast teaâ€, a famous variety of tea, contains Assam tea leaves. The tropical climate of Assam renders a rich, full-bodied malty taste, which accounts for a high level of loyalty among its drinkers. In a simplest sentance, Assam Tea Is The Best
Dooars tea
The Dooars tea is indigenous to the Dooars region, in North Bengal, at the foothills of the Himalayas. It is a unique tea, in that it mixes the character of Assam tea with the mysterious sweetness and aroma of Darjeeling tea. The tea is bright and smooth, and is lighter than the Assam tea. The tea is usually black, light and has a fresh flavour to it.
South Indian tea
There are many varieties of south indian teas. Although known primarily for its coffee, south India provides a range of delectable teas.
Nilgiri tea
The tea from this region has exceptional fragrance and taste. It is pale yellow to golden yellow in colour, and leaves a creamy aftertaste in the mouth. It is a type of green tea, and it is registered as a geographical indication under the Indian government.
Annamalai tea
The tea is bright golden to golden saffron in colour. It has a strong flavour and its taste contains floral undertones. It is ideal for consumption in the early morning after waking up.
Wayanad tea
This type of tea has a sweet fragrance and is characterised by an earthy reddish colour. It is light and has a unique mellow taste.
Karnataka tea
Teas from Karnataka produce a golden ochre liquor. They have a simple, balanced character and are medium toned. These teas are ideal for consumption many times a day.
Munnar tea
The tea is golden yellow in colour, with a tinge of fruitiness. It has medium toned fragrance and has been described as equivalent to tasting a biscuit dipped in single malt.
Travancore tea
The tea has a reddish body and a yellowish tinge. It is not full-bodied and is thus ideal for consumption between meals as well.
You have noticed that I have written many paragraphs on Assam tea due to its extra ordinary quality but could not go for other varieties despite born and brought up in South India.
B Kannamma Tamirasu
How to start packet tea business?
India is the second largest producer of tea in the world, and consumes 70% of its produced tea itself. Needless to say, thus, tea is a thriving business to enter into. But starting a tea business requires discipline and proper methodology. Here are some steps that will make the process of starting a packet tea business much easier:
Evaluate existing brands
This is a very important activity. It is the first step you should take if you want to enter the packet tea business. You should perform market research and get to thoroughly know the market, the players, the market share of each player and the brand value of the existing brands.
Clear picture of you own brand
You should create a clear picture of your own brand in your mind, with respect to how you want it to appear to customers. You should have a clear idea about the type of customers you are trying to target with your tea brand, and whether it should be a regular brand or a premium one.
Business plan
Once you decide the customers you want to target and the type of brand you want to create, you should draw up a business plan. The plan should clearly contain your sales and marketing strategy, along with an estimated profit and loss statement.
Tea leaf suppliers
After you have put your business plan in place, you should hunt for the best tea leaf suppliers. You should do a market research about the suppliers available, the type of tea leaf supplied, which leaves are most easily available and their respective prices.
Design packaging
For a packet tea business, packaging is an extremely important part. The packaging serves no purpose other than visual appeal and product protection, but it must be attractive to the customer. The design of the packaging should also have a unique combination of symbols, logos, letters, colours or any other differentiator, which can help the customer differentiate and contrast between your product and other products in the market. In this way, you can create a space in the mind of the consumer and build your own packet tea brand.
Sample box of tea
After the product is ready, you should create a sample box of tea containing a number of packets. You can use it to distribute free samples to retailers, wholesalers and distributors. This can help build their confidence in the product and increase their willingness to stock it, if and when they like the taste. They may also recommend you packet tea to customers.
How to sell
At this juncture, you have to decide how to sell your product. Whether you should rely on offline retailers or online e-commerce sites is a call you have to make at this point.
Register the business
In the end, you must register your business with the government authorities. Your authorised capital will decide the registration fee.
Once the paperwork and formalities are over, you are ready to sell your own packet tea.
Bharati Tamirasu
Important Steps to Start Loose Tea Business.
How to start loose tea business?
As such, there is a very good market for selling tea in India as well as the rest of the world. Let us look at some ways to start loose tea business:
1. Evaluate competitor brands
This is the first step you should take if you want to enter the loose tea business. You should perform a thorough market research and get to know the market, the players, the market share of each player and the brand value of your competitor brands.
2. Create a clear picture of your own brand
Having a crystal clear image of your own brand in your mind, with respect to how you want it to appear to customers, is of the utmost importance. There should be no misgivings. You should have a clear idea about the type of customers you want to target with your tea brand, and whether it should be a regular brand or a premium one.
3. Business plan
Once you have zeroed in on the customers you want to target and the type of brand you want to create, you should draw up a business plan. The plan should clearly contain your sales and marketing strategy, along with an estimated profit and loss statement.
4. Tea leaf suppliers
After you have put your business plan in place, you should hunt for the best tea leaf suppliers. You should do a market research about the suppliers available, the type of tea leaf supplied, which leaves are most easily available and their respective prices. In case of loose tea, the grade (for example, leaf) and form (for example, granules) should be pre-decided.
5. Design packaging
For a loose tea business also, packaging is an important part. The packaging serves little purpose other than visual appeal and product protection, but it must be attractive to the customer. The design of the packaging should also have a unique combination of symbols, logos, letters, colours or any other differentiator, which can help the customer differentiate and contrast between your product and other products in the market. This can help you build your own brand. Also, the packaging size (grams or kilograms) should also be decided. Sample pack of tea
After the product is ready, you should create a sample box of tea containing the loose tea. You can use it to distribute free samples to retailers, wholesalers and distributors. This can help build their confidence in the product and increase their willingness to stock it, if and when they like the taste. They may also recommend you loose tea to customers.
6. How to sell?
This is the point when you have to decide how to sell your product. Whether you should rely on offline retailers or online e-commerce sites is a call you have to make at this point.
7. Register the business
In the end, you must register your business with the government authorities. Your authorised capital will decide the registration fee.
And you are ready to sell your own loose tea!
Bharathi Kannamma
Investment Required to Start Different Types of Tea Businesses
Tea is one of the most used product in our daily life. And the most important question always arises is to store tea leaves in a stock. These guidelines will help you store the tea leaves with proper care.
• Keep it a dry place
Tea must be placed in a dry area preventing it from moisture. Moisture and humidity decrease the quality of tea and damage its lifespan.
Storage Rack Better to keep tea bags on wooden storage racks. Wooden racks prevent moisture creeping in.
• Prevent from strong fragrance or smell
Tea absorbs smell, odour or fragrance quickly from its surroundings. So always keep it away from such strong smell or fragrance. If your tea storage room is adjacent to any paint / spice/ dustbin / flower garden or anything similar, start worrying. Because the will ruin your tea fragrance.
• Keep it arranged and organized
Arrange tea packets in a well mannered and organized way. Do not keep tea packets in haphazard way. That helps you to identify the tea packets easily and quickly. Moreover you can detect any damages or pilferage easily.
• Prevent from Sunlight
If you tea is fresh, then heat of sunlight will not help your tea. But if the tea is old then heat of sunlight will be good for recovery of the tea quality.
• Air sealed packets
Present day PP tea bags are air tight and somewhat water proof. These bags help to keep tea fresh, full of tea fragrance and protect tea from moisture attack. So always keep a check on bags for its quality and if any damage occurred?
• Notes details
Every garden marks their bags with date of packing and its life span. Generally its 12 months from the date of packing. So it will be better to stack tea as per their date of packing and the date of your purchase. These should be cleared stated with display boards. That way you know it when to sell off a particular stack without further delay.
Just follow these steps, your tea will never become damaged. These will keep the tea quality, you bought fresh for its entire life span.
How Much Investment Required For Tea Dreg Business.
Rs 2000 investment Tea Dreg Business.
You have read it correctly, Rs 2000 investment tea dreg business. You do not require to invest a paisa more but you can start high return business on tea.
In an average, Indian family uses one kg in a month. After making a cup of tea, most of the people through the drags on drains.
Tea is such a product, which has got multiple uses.
You can make a cup of tea and drink it, after drinking it you can use used tea for many uses.
1. Organic Fertilizer Like all green matters, the residue of tea made or tea dregs contains sufficient nitrogen for plant growth.
You can buy tea drags from tea stall owners and sell it in your own packet of half kg, 1 kg as organic fertilizer.
2. Odour prevention-- Put tea drag in a small porous bag. Wherever you find foul odour, put a bag there.
This tea dreg bag will soak all odour from its surroundings.
You can make 50 gram, 100-gram bags with your brand name on it and sell it in the market as natural foul odour repellent.
3. Tea contains tanning, Tanning can soothe small cut, burns and other irritations. The way Boroline, Vaseline works.
Here, you can make a paste of tea dregs and sell it in the market. Remember, if you to sell it as medicine, you will require to follow Govt medicine control rules.
4. Tannins are a natural meat tenderizer. Use can use tea dregs marinade any meat. Just marinade your meat in the fridge for the whole night before cooking. It is another option of low-cost tea business.
5. Tea as cosmetics. Glossing your hair. Add half liter water to 10 grams tea dregs, keep it to cool and then wash your hair with that in the shower. The caffeine present in tea helps you promote your hair growth and made it glossy.
6. Mix 10 grams of tea dregs, in a hot, steamy water bowl. Place your face over the bowl and cover your head with a towel for five to ten minutes. This will hydrate and tone your skin to glow.
These are a few uses of tea other than as drinks. You can check the efficacy by using it on yourself. If you are satisfied, you can start it in your surrounding area. When you start getting more and more demand goes on increasing investment and market.
A word of caution, since all these businesses are directly related to plants and the human body, so be very careful about the purity of tea dregs. In addition to your, collect it only from reliable sources, say from your neibour who is at least as careful as you are.
Please also check Govt regulations regarding Cosmetics and medicine.
How Selecting suppliers for tea can be sometimes difficult.
But there are few tips to be kept in mind while the selection of your tea.
The first thing that a specialist of tea notice is selecting a tea on its “bloom†or “haloâ€. Some use the term “halo†while others use “bloomâ€. When you select your tea, hold your tea up at the eye level within the light, find out, if the tea showing any glaze or bloom. If you find bloom or glaze or halo on the tea, it is definitely good quality.
Now check the following points when selecting your tea, be it local, interstate or international......
First of all, The supplier you select must have the best offer and purest quality guaranteed tea. Tea should be hand harvested and machine made and free of human touch during the manufacturing process.
2. Suppliers' Reputation--- Generally, reputed suppliers, better dealings, prices and authentic quality.
Shabby suppliers, low price, low quality and may be No Supply at all and Loss of Money.
before selecting suppliers are-
1. Tea leaves must be free from artificial ingredients. Manufacturer or supplier must not have mixed any artificial colour or artificial fragrance without your express permission.
2. It must be rich in natural tea taste and tea aroma. Proper harvesting and manufacturing will make it rich in every respect.
3. It must have medicinal value. Tea in pure form and particularly when it did not come in contact with any chemicals has got very high medicinal value. If possible, at least once in a while, get the sample tea tested for chemical residue in laboratories.
4. It must be healthy for daily use. If a laboratory test confirms that it does not contain residue of pesticide or insecticide or any other harmful content, it is healthy for everyone.
5. Package of storage must be airtight. So that it does not acquire moisture or unhealthy substance.
6. Date of manufacturing --It is an established fact that tea remains fresh and consumable one year from the date of manufacturing and packing.
date of manufacturing is written on every pack of tea.
Please do not forget to check it with your supplier before buying it.
Tea market is a VAST market and all types of tea are in demand always. Be it high quality or even half contaminated quality.
Basically, the types of tea supplier you choose will depend on the market you want to cater to.
Now, when you are ready to buy your tea, you have to see the price, variety of stock tea, availability, knowledge or experience of a supplier in the marketing of tea.
You have to decide whether to go with the cheapest rate for tea for or to go with the best taste and flavor, which will be a little expensive.
Most tea retailers or wholesalers keep a stock of a range of tea varieties across the world so that you can choose from different teas.
If you are still hesitant about a particular supplier and wants to know more information about supplier or delivery times, then contact their site and see their response time.
If their response time is very long or does not even respond to your question, ( They may be selling big quantities and understaffed.)
you can expect a similar response when you actually order tea.
If their site looks good with all provided contacts and information, then you may trust them with your tea delivery.
Order them to send tea sample if it builds you trust and fulfill your taste or requirement, buy stock from them.
Tea leaves come with some amount of stalks, which is called “fiber†in CTC style tea. The finest tea leaves are free of them.
More the fiber, lower the quality
Remember the above guidelines to choose tea, you will be able to buy the right tea at the right price and from the right supplier.
(during office time-8 AM to 8-30 PM, after that mobile is in silent mood and we do not ring back on missed call) after checking the current tea prices.
