HYDERABAD: Frothed, scented, thick, milky, and invigorating that’s the signature tea at Café Niloufer. The tea is the result of a master blend by the café’s owner A Babu Rao, who has come up with three new tea powder formulas, which come close to the classic Niloufer tea.
“Niloufer’s tea is not Irani tea. It’s Niloufers tea, it’s my blend,” asserts Babu Rao, in a tone of authority. “Nobody can make a tea like I do. I have perfected the formula over the years. I have been experimenting with blending tea powders for over 40 years now. I like calling myself more of a blender than a businessman,” he adds.
The master blender has mixed over 200 different tea powders from across the country to finally make three brand new tea powders that are for sale now.
“When the first lockdown started, I ordered tea leaves, as many as I can find in the country, and started experimenting with colour, flavour, taste and aroma. I use to drink tea all day long, I used to, almost every day, even insist my friends to come taste my tea after every experiment of blending,” Babu Rao says. “After hundreds of trails and errors I have finally come up with three blends.”
The first one, Platinum, which goes by the tag ‘goodness of the taste’, is the one that most resembles Niloufer’s tea. “Although we make tea, as one would do at home, our tea tastes different because of no secret ingredient, but the style of preparing it,” he says.
Double Delight or Special Blend is for people who like tea with less milk. “It makes the perfect black tea and it is my personal favourite,” he adds. For those who prefer strong tea, there a third blend, Super Dust. This blend is for those who love strong aroma and flavour.
All the blends are now available in the market. “You can either buy these tea powders at Niloufer cafes in the city or at a supermarket or even order it online,” he added. “We also have a new branch coming up at Himayatnagar in the city. It will be the largest Café Niloufer.”