The Perfect cup of Tea: Cheers!

Drinking the pathetic, really morbid tea bag tea (I had run out of my regular Darjeeling tea) I got thinking about the character of a cup of good tea. It’s almost like wine. Sommeliers might go ga ga over their wine, the connoisseur of tea goes equally ecstatic over the perfect full bodied cup of tea.

Tea that has character, has taste, has the quite so perfect colour and aroma. It is not dense and thick but has that exact proportion of water and milk, giving it a texture that is so eminently “sippable” savouring it ever so slowly. You don’t ever gulp down a good cup of tea and so that brings me to the next point. Its best served in a china or ceramic cup, thats the ultimate in luxury.

 The golden reddish brown colour of the tea liquor enhanced with a few drops at the most, of milk, (the purist would frown on that I know) makes for a great cup of tea.

A great cup of tea can lift your mood, herald a good start to your day and not for nothing is there a special period of the day “Teatime” – a time that is devoted to savouring the queen of beverages.

While I might drool over the light flavor of the Darjeeling tea, I am not so fond of either green , jasmine , or other flavored varieties.

 Tea as a former colleague used to say, has to be infused; so the principle of the tea bag ( plunge it into hot water) according to him is “very, very wrong” . Water needs to be infused through tea leaves to lend to it that delicate colour and flavor and that heavenly texture.

And therefore it is pure blasphemy to eat anything heavy, like samosas and pakodas etc. with this cup of tea. Yes, lightly flavoured biscuits maybe Cream crackers go with it, but cream biscuits destroy the tea experience.

One might be so presumptuous as to say that the British, Chinese and Japanese were ‘superior intellects’, developing their unique tea ceremonies to honour and cherish a beverage that deserves every bit of the grandeur associated with these customs. But I guess it’s out of sync in this day and age. The closest we can get to it, is pouring our tea from ceramic teapots enveloped in warm tea cosies.

My tea fetish is reflected in the mementoes that I pick up on my occasional travels. While others hunt for artifacts, I’ve picked up anything associated with tea – like the China clay figurine used to test the temperature of the water for that perfect cup of tea. The Chinese as you know are very particular about their tea. Immerse it in a glass of boiling water and should it “pee” ie bubbles surface then its perfect for the tea. The oolong tea was another expensive prized souvenir from that China trip. Teapots, for me are another much sought after item - the more quaint, the better.

But away from the luxury that one associates with ‘Tea’, there is the grassroot connect of the humble “chai.” This ‘chai’ of late has acquired a political character and avatar of its own. “Chai pe charcha” “chaiwala” are concepts that have helped a political party and its leader establish a direct connect with the masses and catapulted him into office. That I guess should serve as an adequate lesson for those “Tea- totalers” who snigger at the power and daresay for me the “aroma” of Tea.

Business Standard

"I don't stop them from drinking coffee; I only encourage tea-drinking", Stephen Twining

Stephen Twining makes a strong case for tea, though he doesn't brew the idea too aggressively. He tells Bhumika K. why you shouldn't just ask for a cup of tea

It's his ability to talk rather passionately about tea in terms of relationships, about sharing it, personalizing it, and about the sensuality of it all, rather than just talk picked-and-processed cut and dry Oolong, green or Darjeeling that makes a conversation with Stephen Twining interesting.

“You should never just ask for a cup of tea,” warns Twining, the 10 generation of the Twining family that is credited with introducing tea to the British (from China) way back in the 1700s. Since 1837 they have been official tea suppliers to Queen Victoria and since then, every successive British monarch! He explains why you should never simply ask for your cuppa — the current trend of coffee cafes springing up and the varieties of coffee available should open up people's eyes to the fact that tea too doesn't need to be of one kind.

He should know best. He tries local varieties of tea wherever he travels and recalls with great amusement Taiwan's “Bubble tea”. “It has sago in it,” he says, his eyes dancing, and pauses for reaction, before delivering the punch: “You're supposed to sip it with a straw and the sago goes into your mouth ‘Gloop!'”

Settling down for chat on a hot Bangalore afternoon, Stephen, who's now director of corporate relations at Twinings, says the weather's perfect for a light and refreshing green tea, with lemon, maybe. He drinks anywhere between nine and 15 cups of tea a day — a different tea for each time of day, and depending on his mood. He also dispels the myth that Indians are almost the only ones who drink their tea with milk. “The average cup of English tea does have milk. So does it in Australia and New Zealand. But in Europe and America, it would be drunk without milk,” he says. “But that's one of the beauties of tea — it's a very personal drink. We can both share a pot of tea, yet have two very different cups of it!”

Stephen, now 48, who was probably very familiar with his Earl Grey and English Breakfast much earlier than most tea-drinkers would, remembers that one moment he decided he would join the family business — he was all of eight and made his first presentation on tea from India in a geography class. It had quite an impact on him when he realized many of his classmates hadn't even seen green tea!

While we often hear people proclaim that he or she is a “tea person” or a “coffee person”, Stephen says most people are both. “People go through different stages in life — coffee is seen as a sexy and happening drink…it's like the courtship period in a relationship. But when you're looking at a long-term relationship, it would be tea,” he explains his metaphor. “There are more dimensions to the sensuality of tea.” He drinks two or three cups of coffee a week, and visits some great coffee-drinking nations, he says. “I don't stop them from drinking coffee; I only encourage tea-drinking,” reflecting a surprisingly peaceful promotional strategy.

Amazingly, for a company that sells more than 200 kinds of teas in over 100 countries, they don't own any tea gardens! It stems from their philosophy that they want to buy the finest quality of teas, wherever it's available. In India, they source tea from in Assam, Darjeeling Tea gardens and the Nilgiris region. The tea they market in India is packed right here in Kolkata.

While the East India Company first brought tea to Britain from China, and Indian tea first arrived in London in 1838, a big chunk of the world looks upon tea as the drink of the coloniser foisted upon the colonised. “Well, there are many countries that drink tea in the Middle East and have nothing to do with the British,” says Stephen, adding, “I hope to think it's a nice legacy!”

He hadn't yet tasted the Indian “chai” and hoped to get out of the five-star hotel set up for his first tasting. “I have heard how you make it. And it's my theory that since you continue to heat it, the leaves give out a bitterness and therefore you add sugar and spices to it, to counter that taste.” Later, at a tea tasting organized by Twinings in association with The Leela Palace, he says emphatically, wrinkling his nose: “Adding sugar to tea is barbaric!”

Source: The Hindu

Hills, plains chalk out demand lists - Mamata on first Dooars trip after taking charge as chief minister

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad have lined up a series of demands to be placed before the chief minister when she arrives in north Bengal tomorrow. Mamata Banerjee, who will spend the first two days of her tour in the hills, will formally launch the post-quake restoration work and lay the foundation of a car park in Darjeeling before she inaugurates the cultural fest a day before it commences. In the plains, sources said, Mamata might lay the foundation of a school for tribal students in Kalchini, distribute post-Madhyamik scholarships and caste certificates while meeting Parishad leaders, who are wary of the Morcha and apprehensive about the Trinamul chief’s first visit to the Dooars as chief minister. The tribal leaders were always against the Morcha’s statehood agitation. Since the signing of the agreement to set up the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, a government-appointed committee has been examining the Morcha demand to bring the Gorkha-dominated areas of the Dooars and the Terai under the new hill authority. The Parishad is vehemently against the formation of the committee. “A delegation led by our party chief Bimal Gurung will meet the chief minister at 2pm tomorrow. In course of the meeting, we will hand over a detailed report of the damage caused to the Darjeeling hills by the earthquake,” said Binay Tamang, the assistant secretary of the Morcha. “On October 11, when she opens the cultural fest at Chowrastha, we will show her video clips of areas affected by the quake —places she had missed during her trip to the hills after the tremor.” Tamang said the Morcha would also discuss with Mamata projects which “need to be immediately implemented” in the hills. Party sources said the people of Darjeeling and its adjoining areas had been asked to join the opening ceremony of the cultural fest in their traditional attires. The tourist fest, to showcase the majestic world the Darjeeling Himalayas, will continue till October 30. The Morcha will impress upon Mamata to ask for financial assistance from the Centre for the rehabilitation of quake victims in the hills on the lines of the one provided to Sikkim, party insiders said. Sources in Darjeeling district administration said the chief minister would visit Jorepokhri, on the fringes of Darjeeling town, to formally launch the restoration work. “She would then lay the foundations of a multi-storied car parking facility on Lebong Cart Road and the beautification of Chowrastha. Then she will participate in the cultural fest at the same venue,” a senior officer said. The chief minister, who is expected in the plains by Wednesday, will meet a delegation of Parishad leaders in the Dooars that day. “We will surely meet the chief minister but the time and venue are yet to be finalized. The committee formed to look into the Morcha's territory demand will top our discussions. We have been opposing this panel tooth and nail,” said Tezkumar Toppo, the state general secretary of the Parishad. “We will try to convince her that the formation of such a panel is irrelevant as almost everybody in the Dooars and Terai is against any move that will make them part of the GTA. The jurisdiction of the GTA should be confined to the three hill sub-divisions.” The Parishad will also ask the chief minister to confer land rights to tea workers, set up a Hindi medium college, a training institute for Hindi medium school teachers and a bridge over the Teesta, parallel to the Coronation Bridge but further downstream. The proposed bridge near Sevoke Bazar is expected to help the people of the Dooars save considerable time and fuel when they go to Sikkim. The Jalpaiguri district administration said it was not yet aware of Mamata’s complete itinerary. “ So far, we can say that she will attend two government programs in Malbazar — and give away post-metric scholarships to tribal students and caste certificates to prospective beneficiaries. Further itineraries and venues are yet to be finalized,” said district magistrate Smaraki Mahapatra. Sources in the administration, however, said the chief minister might visit Kalchini to lay the foundation of Raghunath Murmu Memorial School for tribal children. “She is also scheduled to hold an administrative meeting before she leaves for Calcutta. These are, however, yet to be finalized,” Mahapatra said. Source: The Telegraph

HML has introduced Surya CTC Tea

Kochi, Oct. 2: Harrisons Malayalam Ltd (HML) has introduced Surya Tea, a mark for its bulk CTC tea to be sold in the Cochin Auction Centre of the Cochin Tea Trade Association. This new mark is made from leaves produced in the Nilgiri-Wayanad region. Surya is a premium quality CTC tea produced primarily keeping the Kerala consumer in mind.

In Kerala, consumers pay a premium for dust grade CTC teas that are known for strength and colour. Surya has been launched keeping with the company's strategy of having one premium mark / brand from each of its production regions.

The company produces 15-18 million kg of tea annually from all its gardens in South India. While the HML has tea-growing areas in High Range (Munnar) and Vandiperiyaar in Idukki District, the main growing region for the company is located in the Wayanad region of North Kerala and the adjoining Nilgiri-Wayanad tea district, where the company has more than 7,500 acres of mature tea.

Source: Business Line

Truck loaded with tea falls off bridge

A tea-laden truck fell off the army-built Krupman bridge on the Sudani at Domohani late last night, blocking traffic on NH34 for a couple of hours.

Prompt action by the army jawans posted at the site saved the driver and the cleaner. The vehicle, however, is still in the river.

The army said the truck, travelling from Siliguri to Calcutta, probably weighed more than 25 tonnes, the permissible limit for vehicles wanting to cross the floating bridge. Following the accident, cracks have appeared in three of the beams of the bridge’s mainframe.

The project-in-charge of the bridge, Lt Col. Kumar Abhishek, said the truck had crossed over to the other side and was climbing up the bank when it stopped and slid back on to the bridge. It careened to the left side of the causeway and hit the beams placed on the rafts under the bridge before toppling over.

“The noise of the crash alerted the jawans manning the bridge. They rushed in and rescued the driver and the cleaner,” Abhishek said.

There is a fear that the cracks caused by the accident might widen if vehicles weighing more than 25 tonnes keep crossing the bridge.

In the past, trucks appearing to be heavier than that have had to be allowed to pass because the slips issued by nearby weighbridges showed their weight to be less than 25 tonnes. To solve the problem, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had installed axle pads, or portable weighing machines, on both sides of the bridge to double-check the weight of vehicles. But recently the NHAI took away the pads.

“As a result, we cannot challenge any truck even if we are sure that it is overloaded,” an army source said.

Project director of the NHAI’s Malda division, Srikumar Bhattacharya, said axle pads could not be a permanent solution.

“However, we shall install them at the site once more,” Bhattacharya said.

Source: The Telegraph

Mixed Report on Tea Status Report

Siliguri: Anuradha Talwar’s status report on the present condition of the closed tea gardens in the region has evoked mixed response in the brew belt.

While workers of closed estates are banking on the report prepared by the adviser to the Supreme Court’s food commissioner for a better future, trade union members and planters are sceptical about how much it would help implement development schemes and resume work at the gardens.

“We have been making several demands related to the workers’ welfare since the closure of the gardens. Hardly a fraction of those have been implemented till now,” said Mani Kumar Darnal, the general secretary of the Intuc-affiliated National Union of Plantation Workers. “Though Talwar holds an important post, we doubt if it would prompt the government intensify its initiatives in the estates.”

Chitta Dey, the convener of the Coordination Committee of Tea Plantation Workers, echoed him. “With no major breakthrough in the past few years, we are now thinking of a movement to pressure the governments and planters to reopen the gardens,” Dey said.

Even the planters do not seem to think that Talwar’s report is going to help much. “Reopening shut gardens is getting difficult every day due to several reasons, one of them being the rise in social costs,” said N.K. Basu, the principal adviser to the Indian Tea Planters’ Association. “We don’t consider the report to be a significant document.”

Workers, however, think otherwise. “The report she has prepared comprise true information and details. If senior officials go through it and analyse our condition, there is a high chance of more relief flowing in,” said Gopal Das, an employee of the Sikarpur tea estate.

Source: The Telegraph

Re-Opening Kanthalguri Tea Estate

The bipartite meeting between trade union leaders and representatives of Jadabpur Tea Company for the reopening of the Kanthalguri tea estate remained inconclusive today.

However, the stakeholders felt that the meeting threw up enough suggestions that might ultimately pave the way to the reopening of the garden. Kanthalguri is the worst affected of the 14 closed estates in the Dooars and has been locked out since July 2002.

The meeting, which was held at the Indian Tea Planters’ Association (ITPA) office in Jalpaiguri, was convened after Jadabpur Tea expressed interest in acquiring Kanthalguri, earlier owned by Pink City Tea Company. “Those present at the meeting discussed the workforce of the garden and issues related to them,” said N.K. Basu, the principal adviser to ITPA.

“Some of the problems have been sorted out and to redress the remaining ones, we have decided to hold another meeting on February 15. It was a successful meeting and we look forward to further negotiations,” Basu added.

A source in the tea industry said the company representatives had proposed to engage 600 permanent workers in case they reopen Kanthalguri. The last payroll had 1,449 permanent workers on it.

“The trade union leaders said at least 800 workers should be recruited so that members from every family get work. The company is likely to state its decision in the next meeting,” the source said.

Basu said the company’s officials have already gone through the accounts of past liabilities of Kanthalguri. They have even had a discussion with the administrative officials over land lease. “Ever since the lease has been cancelled, the state has become the owner of the land,” he said. “As a result, in case the company acquires the estate, they should be granted fresh lease. The administration has promised to do so, provided related issues are cleared.”

Even the trade union leaders seemed hopeful. “Considering Jadabpur Tea’s proposals, the prospects of Kanthalguri are looking up,” said Mani Kumar Darnal, district secretary, National Union of Plantation Workers.

Source: The Telegraph