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At the Tearoom of the Ritz in London's upper class Mayfair, the watercress sandwiches must be water thin. Not because thickness has anything to do with improving gastronomic satisfaction levels but because it enhances the taste of Darjeeling's finest - the outstanding orange pekoe.
The service needless to say, is the best Wedge-wood can offer. Cut to a typical Sunday morning in steamy Kolkata. An overcrowded sidewalk café dishing out double-half cha to a motley group, busy in saving the universe. It has its own connectivity syndrome. The world of tea is seamless. It blends the booming canons in an 18th century Boston harbour with the quiet and elaborate ritual of an afternoon in Japan with effortless ease. It also has a resilience seldom talked about.
In 1992, the redoubtable Coca-Cola came calling on the Indian shores. Pepsi Co. had already found a toehold in the beverage market. With Coke's calling card in place, the marketing experts were busy forecasting a shift in beverage habits of the common man. After all, the entire tea industry in the country was only a fragment of revenues earned by Coke and PepsiCo. The ad budget of Coca-Cola in India was more than the turnover of most medium tea companies. However, 10 years down the line, tea continues to be the beverage of the nation and per capita consumption of carbonated drinks continues to languish at three bottles per year. The new millennium has brought a new
threat, coffee. With the Yankees firmly in command over the world, coffee is ready to rule the waves. Tea needs a new makeover. But let's start the tea tale at the beginning.
The Beginning
Tea is a Ritual Enjoyed for nearly
5000
years. The origin of tea is attributed to many a legend but one, which has stood the test of time, is that tea
originated in
China.
There is a story of a saint who, while meditating, fell asleep. On waking he decided to punish himself by cutting off his eyelids. The place where his eyelids fell to the earth a strange plant grew. The leaves of this plant if brewed could banish sleep.
These leaves were later to be identified as tea. According to available sources the first Book of Tea was written by Lu Yu in 780 A.D. and the green, black and Oolong teas made their first appearance under the Ming Dynasty circa 14th century. The Chinese were sole suppliers of tea to the world till the Japanese broke their stranglehold in the 9th century and the first business rivalry was kicked off.
Teatime for India and indeed the rest of the western world began with the advent of the British. R.S. Jhawar, chairman of The Indian Tea Association, in his exhaustive treatise Tea-the Universal Health Drink traces the growth of Darjeeling tea as follows: "The seeds of Darjeeling tea - of ten called the champagne of teas - were planted in
1841. But commercial production began only in 1852."The second half of the 19th century saw a massive expansion in tea cultivation in India. And, the industry has never looked back. India today is the dominant force in the global tea market and produces
more than 31 percent
of the world's total tea output.
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