CHENNAI: If you love your ‘tea breaks’ just as much as you love your tea, sip on this. Mumbai-based cafe chain Tea Trails opened their first outlet in Chennai on Sunday.
Inaugurated by director K S Ravikumar, the space at Ashok Nagar offers 80 varieties of tea from around the world such as the Argentinian Mate and Smokey Chinese Lapsang Souchong, which incidentally is a personal favourite of Winston Churchill!
With 11 outlets opened so far including those at Mumbai, Hyderabad and the latest one in Chennai, CEO Sanjeev S Potti says, “We are planning another 50 outlets in the next five years in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry alone.” Potti, also a co-founder of the brand, let’s on that after massive amounts of research, he and his partners realised that there was a huge opportunity in the Indian market for tea drinkers. “Think about it, despite India being the second largest nation for tea consumption, a majority of people have only their roadside vendors to rely on for a good cup of tea. If you want to sit down relax at a cafe with your beverage, it’s always a coffee shop,” he points out.
At this point of course, one has to wonder, is coffee even on this menu? “Just one,” Potti answers with a smile, “South Indian filter kaapi, we just couldn’t leave it out!”
Given their competitive pricing with a basic chai priced at Rs 80 and imported speciality teas not surpassing the Rs 200 mark, the response has been very encouraging, we are told.
Tied up with tea estates in Darjeeling, Kangra, Assam and Nilgiris, the most expensive tea on the menu at Rs 170 is the white tea. “It’s the purest form of tea with only two leaves and a bud sourced from a single plant. Also, its even higher in antioxidants than green tea,” Potti tells us.
Tea is served in a transparent mug. It comes on a tray, with a brewing device, trivia tag and an hourglass to measure the time.