Tata Global Beverages to push 'Tetley' green tea range

Courtesy : Zee News  
New Delhi: Tata Global Beverages  is trying to cash in on the growing  interest of health conscious food and drinks in India and is expanding the range of its green tea range sold under the 'Tetley' brand.
      
The company, which on Thursday launched three more variants under the Tetley green tea range, said it will continue to focus on the big cities and metros, and look for more flavours "appropriate for the Indian palate".
     
"Green tea market is a small market but a very fast growing one. Green tea has always been associated with health and over the years, people are getting more health conscious. So being a market leader, our effort is to find various ways to expand the market," Tata Global Beverages Vice President (Marketing) Vikram Grover said.
     
According to industry estimates, the Indian packaged green tea market is around 3.5 lakh kg per annum in volume terms and is believed to be growing at the rate of 50 percent. At present,  some of the brands in the market include Lipton, WakhBakri and Himalaya.
     
"We want to make sure that we are present in all the relevant markets like the metros and large cities. Our challenge is how to increase the penetration of the product. We are also focused on the availability of our products in retail outlets in abundant quantity," he said.
    
With the launch of three more variants -- Cinnamon and Honey, Citrus and Spice, and Aloe Vera, Tetley is now available in six flavours under the green tea segment in India. It is priced at Rs 50 for a pack of 10 sachets and will initially be available at high end retail outlets and supermarkets in Delhi, Mumbai and all key metros.
     
Grover said the company will continue to promote consumption of green tea by creating awareness about its health benefits. As part of the effort, Tetley is organising an awareness programmes 'Healthy Fun Days' this month.
    
Besides the company has also lined up sampling activities at parks (Jog Fests), malls and centers of a popular gymnasium chain across Delhi.
     
Tetley tea is one of the brands owned by Tata Global Beverages. It is sold in over 70 countries worldwide. It already has flavours such as Assam tea in Black tea category, Ginger, Mint, Lemon and Honey and Lemon in green tea category and Masala, Lemon, Ginger, Elaichi, Tulsi & Lemon in its flavored tea portfolio.

Most expensive' tea grown in panda poo

COURTESY : Hindustan Times

Chinese entrepreneur An Yanshi is convinced he has found the key ingredient to produce the world's most expensive tea - panda poo.


The former calligraphy teacher has purchased 11 tonnes of excrement from a panda breeding centre to fertilise a tea crop in the mountains of Sichuan province in southwestern China, home to the black and white bears.

An says he will harvest the first batch of tea leaves this spring and it will be the "world's most expensive tea" at almost 220,000 yuan ($35,000) for 500 grams (18 ounces).

Chinese tea drinkers regard the first batch of tea to be harvested in the early spring as the best and successive batches, regarded as inferior, will sell for around 20,000 yuan.

The 41-year-old, who is so passionate about his new project he dressed in a panda suit for his interview with AFP, has been ridiculed by some in China for his extravagant claims of the potential health benefits of the tea.

But he insists he is deadly serious, saying he quit his job at Sichuan University to throw himself "heart and soul" into his company, Panda Tea, whose logo features a smiling panda wearing a bow tie and holding a steaming glass of green tea.

While An hopes to make money from the tea, which he has planted on just over a hectare (2.5 acres) of land, his main mission is to convince the world to protect the environment and replace chemical fertilisers with animal faeces - before it is too late.

"Panda dung is rich in nutrition... and should be much better than chemical fertilisers," An told AFP, as he sat at a traditional Chinese tea table drinking tea grown with cow manure. "People should make a harmonious relationship with heaven, earth and the environment," An said.

"Everybody has an obligation to protect the environment," he added, as he showed AFP dozens of traditional Chinese scroll paintings that he has created of cheerful-looking pandas, bamboo and calligraphy.

The tea aficionado got the idea to use panda faeces as fertiliser after attending a seminar last year where he discovered that the bears absorbed less than 30 percent of the bamboo they consumed, excreting the remaining 70 percent.

An showed AFP a glass jar of fresh-looking panda faeces, which he uses to fertilise two tea plants in his office, noting the "quality" and "green" colour of the dung.

He is so convinced that Panda Tea will be a hit that he has patented the idea to prevent a competitor stealing it - a common occurrence in a country where laws protecting intellectual property rights are often flouted.

His claim that the green tea will help people lose weight and protect them from radiation has been ridiculed by some Chinese web users, who have expressed doubts about the purported health benefits of the tea and the high asking price for the first harvest.

"If it is such a good fertiliser for tea plants, I want to ask this teacher: why don't you just eat panda dung? Then you can get the rest of the 70 percent nutrition," a web user called Baihuashu said.

Another web user called 24-0 said: "Over 200,000 yuan per jin (500 grams) for panda tea fertilised by panda droppings -- is that for drinking tea or drinking pandas' blood?"

Despite the online detractors of his yet-to-be-tested tea, An said he  remained undeterred and was already thinking about expanding his business.

"After the first batch is harvested, if the quality is really good, we will expand the economies of scale," said An, waving his panda paws for emphasis.

'Hot Tea Across India' is a reader's delight

Courtesy : IBN Live

A travelogue according to me is the most difficult to write. How can one capture images, beauty, and memories in a book? How much would it take to conjure every detail on the trips that you have made and the people you have met? I always marvel at the skill of writers who accomplish writing a travelogue to the smallest details. I started reading, 'Hot Tea Across India' on a cold night in December and it was a great experience.

I have always been wary of travelogues written by Indian writers, not for anything else, but for the fact that I feel the details are missing most of the time. So I started this one with trepidation, however all my fears were laid to rest.

'Hot Tea Across India' is a book about tea all over the lay of the country. It is about the author’s obsession with travelling on his Bullet and otherwise and exploring lands, and while doing so drinking tea as he and his friends go along journeys over periods of time. Tea is something which is available anywhere in India. It is almost the staple or national drink of the sub-continent and it is around this that the author weaves his travelogue. Tea as tasted across his journeys.

Rishad Saam Mehta was working with Autocar India and it is through them that he took to writing and photography. The pieces are well-written, though not all talk about tea and that’s what one will expect, given the title. At the same time, the writing is very good, especially when Mehta describes scenery and breathtaking Himalayan ranges as he is riding past them or setting camp. My favourite chapters in the book were about food – what is available on the highway roadside eateries to what can be cooked by strangers who become acquaintances and then friends.

Throughout the book, I wondered how good it would be if the book could be substantiated with pictures. That would be a reader’s delight. All in all 'Hot Tea Across India' was a good reading experience to start off the year.

Tea Board recommends projects worth over Rs 1,000 cr

Courtesy : Business LIne (the hindu)

                                               

COONOOR, JAN. 2: The Tea Board has recommended to Union Government projects worth over Rs 1,000 crore in response to the representations of its members from the South.

“These relate to Rs 600 crore for factory upgradation subsidy, Rs 300 crore for small grower directorate and production worth several crores of rupees by factories awaiting licence.

While some relate to 12th Five Year Plan beginning April, others will have immediate effect.

These schemes are for the industry in the country as a whole, not just confined to the South,” Dr S. Ramu, member representing factories, told Business Line.

UPGRADATION SUBSIDY

“As we feared that the factory upgradation subsidy scheme was being abruptly ended with the Board's office in Coonoor disallowing fresh applications and stopping post-installation inspection so as to reject 1,085 applications in the pipeline, we represented for the continuation of the scheme in 12th Plan with higher subsidy component. The Board has recommended this,” said Mr P. Viswanathan, representing Parliament on the Board.

“We were informed at the recent Board meeting in Coonoor that the subsidy is proposed to be raised to 40 per cent from the present 25 per cent for machinery manufacturing orthodox tea and equipment used for value-addition. The ceiling is proposed to be increased from the present Rs 25 lakh a year to Rs 1.5 crore for machinery and Rs 2 crore for value-addition for the five year period.”

“The outlay for the scheme is sought to be Rs 500 crore. Besides, applications in the pipeline worth about Rs 100 crore would be processed once funds were received from Centre,” he said.

“Our long pending demand for constituting small grower directorate is coming to reality with Board's recommendation in 12{+t}{+h} Plan with an outlay of Rs 300 crore. This will benefit 1.61 lakh small growers in the country including over 60,000 in Nilgiris for whom a separate Joint Director will function in Coonoor,” Ms Koshy Baby, member representing small growers, said.

LICENSES

“The Board has decided to process in time applications for granting licence to bought-leaf factories. We had raised the issue of 35 Nilgiri factories whose application has been pending for long of which, many relate to ownership change. The Board has confirmed action on these, which means, production worth several crores of rupees can take place,” Dr S Ramu, said.

Tea Board to put tea waste on e-auction

Courtesy : The Economics Times


KOLKATA: With e-auction of tea becoming hugely successful, Tea Board of India has decided to put tea waste on e-auction shortly. NSE.IT has been given the mandate to work out the trading module for tea waste.State Bank of India and IndusInd Bank have been identified as settlement banks for e-auction transactions in tea waste. 

Tea Board is also mulling introduction of e-auction for teas that are sold at the estate level and are termed as private sales. Subsequently, packaged teas will also be offered on e-auction. 

Talking to ET, V Rajaraman, vice president of NSE.IT, said: "Officials from NSE.IT visited Jorhat, Dibrugarh, Siliguri, Coonoor, Coimbatore and Kochi. Training sessions have been conducted already. It is expected that e-auction in tea waste will begin from June-July this year. Interestingly, seeing India's success with e-auction, Kenya and Sri Lanka, the other two tea-producing nations, have shown interest to introduce the system in the primary marketing of tea." 

J Kalyansundaram, secretary of Calcutta Tea Traders Association, said: "E-auctions have resulted in better price recovery." 

According to Tea Board officials, nearly 25 million kg of tea waste will be put for e-auction. Tea waste is generated during the production of tea. This product is usually bought by caffeine manufacturers for use in medicines, instant tea and fertilisers. This sale and disposal of tea waste is strictly monitored by Tea Board. It is expected that about 2,000 sellers and 20 buyers registered with Tea Board across India will take part in tea waste auctions. 

Tea Board is also introducing e-auction for bulk tea currently being sold directly by sellers and manufacturers from their gardens or factories to buyers. 

Now, such teas do not get cataloged in any of the six auction centres and are often termed as private/ex-estate sales. The bulk tea e-auction programme is in the final stages of testing. 

Another auction is being planned for packaged tea, which is similar to the branded tea sold in retail packets. This will be a reverse auction in which an MRP will be assigned to each lot by sellers. 

Buyers will bid for the rebate they are seeking from the seller on the MRP. The buyer asking for the lowest rebate wins the lot.

Tea board office shift hailed

Courtesy : THE TELEGRAPH

Jorhat, Jan. 1: The decision of the Tea Board of India to shift its regional office from Guwahati to Jorhat and set up a separate directorate for small tea growers in Dibrugarh, has been widely hailed by the tea industry in Upper Assam.

Former chairman of Assam Tea Planters’ Association and tea planter Raj Barooah said Jorhat being considered the tea capital as well as the cultural capital of Assam, it was definitely a very good move to shift the office from Guwahati to Jorhat.

“Upper Assam is the tea belt of Assam and contributes to the largest amount of tea to the country. Historically also if one sees, it will be seen that tea plantations were started by the British from Jorhat and this part of the state and it is only right that the office be located here,” Barooah said.

He pointed out that in south India where a certain amount of tea is also produced, the tea board office was situated in Coonoor in Tamil Nadu and not at its capital Chennai or in Bangalore or Thiruvananthapuram, capitals of two other tea-producing states — Karnataka and Kerala.

Tamil Nadu produces about 21 per cent while Kerala produces 5 per cent and Karnataka 2 to 3 per cent of total tea produced in the country.

“This is a positive move which will help bring tea growers and manufacturers into a proper relationship with the tea board and foster better interaction,” he said.

Secretary of Tea Association of India J.N. Baruah said the shift would help the tea board serve the people… regarding production and marketing.

“This is a welcome move as the tea board was previously out of reach of the people but now they would be able to avail the services and the board would also be able to function after getting a right perspective,” Baruah said.

He said with the Tocklai Experimental Station, North East Institute of Science and Technology and the Assam Agricultural University all working to greater or smaller extent in improving quality and increasing production, they could work together with the tea board to give the best to the Industry.

Bharatiya Chah Parishad member Kanakeswar Senchowa said the move was late in coming as former Union minister of state for commerce Jairam Ramesh three years ago questioned why the Tea board office was headquartered outside the state and the regional office at such a distance from the tea belt.

“Though late, the shifting will help the tea board to work better for the industry as regards marketing, price control and formulating other policies. As the regional office was so far away, often many cases went unrepresented as many did not have the time or inclination to travel so far,” he said.

In regard to the setting up of a directorate for small tea growers, Karuna Mahanta, secretary of All Assam Small Tea Growers’ Association, said this would help solve the problems of small tea growers faster. The tea board could also take some decisions regarding training of small tea growers.