Cutting chai’ is a popular term you hear on the streets of India. While our fascination with the beverage is well-known — we are one of the largest consumers of tea — tea tasting can be termed as a poor cousin of wine tasting. Snigdha Manchanda, based in Mumbai, who likes to identify herself as a tea sommelier helps us understand what it is all about.
What’s tea tasting?
Tea tasting is not merely sipping tea and passing a verdict. It is the art and science of tea. You can also do a certain specialisation within tea tasting. I have specialised in crafting hand-blended teas, so it’s a study of the flavour wheel and how it interacts with the teas.
Where can you study it and what will you learn?
Tea tasting requires a refined palate and it can only be built by practice and by tasting teas as a discipline and routine. You can study at the Specialty Tea Institute, US, or Tea Sommelier Academy, Sri Lanka. It’s important you choose a course that is a blend of both classroom learning as well as hands-on experience at the tea estates.
What are the career prospects like?
The growth could be slow. You need a lot of patience. It may even be five-10 years before you make it. You can join a prestigious hotel as a tea sommelier, just like hotels have wine sommeliers. There are many tea rooms and tea houses coming up in India - you could land yourself a job as a tea specialist or perhaps start one of your own.
What is the range of remuneration that can be expected?
Salaries for tea sommeliers recruited at hotels range from Rs 6-12 lakh per annum.
— shilpa.vasudevan@newindianexpress.com