‘Tea’ming exotic flavours

Manpriya Singh 

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Anamika Singh’s two-line introduction pretty much sums up both her passion and profession in one go—a tea drinker by birth and a tea taster by profession.  When growing up happens in tea gardens with your father in the tea estate business, not just ample knowledge about the subject but ample enthusiasm is a given.  “Born into a family of tea makers and drinkers, evening conversations would happen over chai and about chai,” she shares of her days in Darjeeling where her father spent 45 years.  In Chandigarh as a part of the food showcase, The Traveling Kitchen, she is all set to take a volley of questions and lengthy conversations as long as they happen to be about good-old chai and its newer avatars.  Talking of her out-of-the-box career, it was not just lack of formal education and curriculum around tea farming that was a challenge but even the fact that there was only one woman tea taster at the time.  “Right now there are a few courses down South on tea tasting but I chose to learn practically in the factories and tea gardens. After all, nothing better than practical knowledge.” 

Chai bar vs cafes 

By now, India has seen an entire generation of youngsters grown up while hanging out in coffee bars, beyond the ubiquitous Indian Coffee House.

While tea remains a staple drink, it still struggles to be associated as the going-out drink. She laughs, “I myself would rather have coffee than a bad cup of tea. It’s better to make do with coffee. That is true but things are soon going to change.” What with the new infusions and impossible variety of flavours making it to everyday homes, as she says, “Tea will soon find an even firmer footing as more and more people begin to understand its wellness powers.” 

Coffee vs tea 

Never mind that majority of the people are both ardent coffee and tea drinkers and she included but there is one thing she’ll find herself saying in defense of teas if ever pulled into the tea vis-a-vis coffee debate.  Her absolute favourite has to be two or three of them; starting with the very relaxing and calming first flush tea in lavender and lemongrass flavour. “Then there’s the pinewood smoke tea apart from a few others.” Having introduced new infusions with a mix of natural flowers and herbs to the Indian market, she is now all set to introduce yet another flavour that is likely to tingle the imagination if not taste buds right away; it’s going to have both tea and coffee flavours in one. 

manpriya@tribunemail.com 

The Travelling Kitchen is on till today at The Chandigarh Golf Range.