COONOOR: After the flavourful Darjeeling and the full-bodied Assam, it’s time for the Niligiris teas to take centre stage. After getting the Geographical Indication, Nilgiris teas celebrated it with a tea festival in Coonoor on Friday last.
The festival had the key players like Kattary, Glendale, Nonsuch, Parkside, Craigmore, Havukal, Dunsandle, Chamraj, Thaishola, Kotada, Tan Tea, Indco Serve, Darmona, Riverside, Vigneshwara, Kannavarai, Homedale, Selva Ganapathy, Venus Tea and Mavukarai displaying their array of teas here. For the first time the exotic Silver Tips tea, Golden Tips, Winter Frost, Baimudan and a host of black, green and flavoured teas were on display under one roof.
Sandeep Subramani, the owner of Tranquilitea and the brain behind this festival told Express, “The fact that we produce some of the world’s finest teas have not been properly communicated to the people at large at least within the country and the Nilgiri Tea Fest is an event held to educate consumers of what makes Nilgiri teas special.
“We also hope to take the Nilgiri Tea Fest to other parts of the country with a tentative plan to organize an event in Chennai in October.” With the highest ever price paid for a kilogram of Nilgiris teas was $600 at the Las Vegas tea auction, Niligirs teas are here to stay.
When quizzed about the price falls and set backs in every industry, Suresh Jacob, General Manager, Katary and Sutton Estates said, “Surprisingly the tea industry has not been affected.
The CTC and Orthodox teas continue to sell at the same rate and the demand has gone up in fact.
Only there is a slight dip in the specialty tea segment”.
A major part of Nilgiri teas have traditionally been exported to countries like Russia, the Middle East including Iran and Iraq, the US and Europe including Germany and France, but there is hardly any retail sale in the country itself.