Sips of cheer!

Aided by Nitte University, a young entrepreneur from Mysuru comes up with betel leaf organic tea

Eshanya Beverages Founder Sandeep Eshanya, and his wife and Co-founder Rani Vishwanath, with their product -- Betel Leaf Tea

MANGALURU: Oops, there’s a paan in my chai! These two favourite indulgences of a typical Indian 
afternoon have come together in the form of betel leaf tea, for the tea connoisseur. Sandeep Eshanya (30) from Vijayanagar in Mysuru district, has come up with this unique tea developed at Nitte University through its DST Technology Enabling Centre (TEC).

“Betel leaf is rich in fibre, vitamins A, B, C, and minerals like calcium, iron and potassium, but the betel leaf has lost its importance as it is used for chewing, and not as a food product. I had read an article on how the betel leaf is neglected today, and I decided to come up with a byproduct. During the Covid lockdown, I wanted to do something to improve the utilisation of betel leaves,” he said.

The brand ‘Betel Leaf Organic Tea’ was released in Mangaluru on Friday by Nitte University Vice-Chancellor Prof Sathish Bhandary. Sandeep, an entrepreneur who runs a startup called Eshanya Beverages Pvt Ltd, approached Nitte University DST TEC, and got support in the form of a study initiated with Dr Mamatha BS, faculty at Nitte University Centre for Science Education and Research.  

With her background in food technology, Dr Mamatha held discussions with Sandeep Eshanya, and developed a process for making betel leaf tea, using betel leaves. The process of preparing tea bags without losing nutrients, medical properties and original flavour, even when different flavours were added, had to be standardised through laboratory studies and consumer acceptance trials. The process has been protected by a shared patent.

Betel leaves being cleaned and readied to be turned into tea

Nitte University has authorised Sandeep’s firm to commercialise technology through an agreement. Eshanya Beverages was also incubated at MS Ramaiah Institute.

Mysuru betel leaf used
Sandeep says GI-tagged Mysuru betel leaf is procured from farmers in Mysuru. “Around 15 farmers are supplying us with betel leaves at present. We are using two different varieties available in Mysuru. Apart from that, local women participate in the manufacture of the product,” he said.

Sandeep said the product was released into the market a month ago, and had already sold around 300 boxes with four different flavours -- original, lemon, rose and orange.

Priced at Rs 349 per box with 15 sachets, they are getting good responses from across India. “The product is available online on Amazon and retail stores too. We have sent product samples to at least 10 countries and have received good response. We will soon export it to the US and Japan,” he said.

AIM TO GENERATE MORE EMPLOYMENT
Sandeep Eshanya said that around 15 farmers are supplying them with betel leaves at present. “We use two different varieties available in Mysuru. Besides, local women are part of manufacturing the product. We aim to generate more employment and help farmers who extensively grow betel leaf in Mysuru,” hesaid.