Tea back with a bang

Tea has always been the favourite drink in corner street shops. But it slipped from its position among the hot and stylish joints in recent times. Now it is reinventing itself, finds Anju Munshi

ARE you a stickler for a good cup of tea, rich in aroma and taste? Do you believe that a good cup of tea kickstarts your morning? Be happy then, for tea has arrived back on the scene with tea boutiques and tea parlours catching people’s fancy in a way that has never happened before. Tea is back in its new avatar in a reinvented form and has come a full circle.

Remember the social milieu of afternoon tea sessions in Jane Austen and Emile Bronte books with their elaborate tea table settings, parlour maids with her starched caps and aprons`A0serving tea and hot scones? The present-day tea parlours and tea boutiques try to send the message that the vestiges of Victorian ambience created by the aroma of a richly brewed tea, dainty cups and stylised kettle still attract the tea connoisseurs. `A0

This is good news, indeed, since this wonder beverage`A0went through a rough time in recent years. Excess supply, stagnant consumption and changing lifestyle of the Indian youth had pushed tea behind in the preference list. The cola regime, the coffee parlours seen as a symbol of youth, made tea somewhat associated with the old and the infirm.

Coffee parlours projected a certain gay abandon, of celebration and fun. The popular television show Koffee with Karan glamorised coffee drinking by associating itself with the celebs. And then, ads showing happy young men and women drinking hot creamy steaming coffee, young couples biking and taking breaks over cups of coffee, men making coffee to please their spouses, projected the brew preferred by the happening people. It came as a contrast to tea ads that showed old and arthritic people savouring tea or a housewife serving tea to her family, besides daadi ma ka nuska for coughing children. All these images of mundane domesticity did not help make tea take on a young image. Sure enough, quietly in an unceremonious fashion, the good old chai suffered a beating at the hands of coffee and cola among the city crowd.

According to a report by the Indian Tea Association (ITA), "tea faced a`A0fierce competition in the form of colas and juices." But though it did perceive a threat, it didn’t do much about it. However, the good news is that tea has finally started getting a makeover; it is being resurrected and slowly but steadily the demand is going upwards. The Tea Board and the ITA have lately taken steps to bring back the glory and respectability of this beverage, too. Says I.S.Sukarchakia of Contemporary Brokers Limited: "Total tea consumption in India was estimated at over 650 million kg in 2000 . Today Indian tea consumption is rated at 800 million kg and is growing at`A03 per cent`A0 in terms of annual sale growth, a sure improvement of 2 per cent in`A0the recent past." Experts attribute the growth to intensified ad campaigns, getting tea known as a happening drink along with health benefits.

In Kolkata, the original tea capital of India, tea parlours are making headlines too. Old favourites like the Flury’s on Park Street has had an image makeover`A0by making it an exclusive tea joint. Accompanied by interesting bites like croissants and muffins in a true Victorian fashion, it offers a sit-and-sip environment. The interior`A0has been designed keeping in mind the tea houses in European countries and with the right accessories, sugar tongs, strainers and dainty tea cosies. It does create an atmosphere likewise.

Dolly’s Tea shop in south Kolkata’s Dakshinapan shopping complex has been a signature tea-place for years. Owner Dolly Roy, who has the CVs of different tea varieties on her fingertips, asserts that tea drinking in her outlet has gone up by 200 per cent in the last two years. "Not only has the number gone up but some very heartening and peculiar changes have been taking place, like parents buying tea for their daughters’ trousseaus or`A0students buying tea as gifts for their teachers on Teachers’ Day, or mothers- in-law giving`A0tea hampers to their sons-in-law," says Roy. — TWF

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