ITA To Promote Assam’s Orthodox Tea in Middle East

GUWAHATI: The Indian Tea Association (ITA) has decided to promote Assam’s orthodox tea in Middle East countries.

An official of ITA told The Sentinel that the orthodox tea from Assam has already been very well received in the country like Iran and record exports of 28 million kg was achieved in 2017. He said the ITA is now focused to aggressively market the orthodox tea in other Middle East countries.

“The ITA has strongly felt that preserving and promoting the orthodox tea brand of Assam, which is unique, hand-crafted and is also GI registered, must be promoted at domestic and international markets,” the official said.

He said such promotion will help in promoting quality tea in India and abroad. He hoped that such promotion will help in increasing tea consumption among new and younger generations.

Orthodox tea and CTC tea are different styles of tea production or tea processing. Orthodox tea refers to loose leaf tea produced using traditional (orthodox) methods, which involves plucking, withering, rolling, oxidation/fermentation and drying. On other hand CTC (Crush, Tear, and Curl or Cut, Tear, and Curl) is a method of processing black tea in which tea leaves are passed through a series of cylindrical rollers with serrated blades that crush, tear, and curl the tea into small, even-shaped pellets.

According to several small tea growers there has never been a serious attempt in the past to promote Assam tea in the domestic or international markets.

“Increase in demand for Assam tea is crucial for survival of the sector. The Assam government must aggressively promote and brand Assam tea in domestic and international markets,” a planter said.

The National Archives of India and the State archive are having many archival documents on Assam tea industry. The Assam Government, in association with the Union ministry of culture, can have an interesting exhibition in the halls of the National Archives of India, New Delhi, and also in other cities, which will help promote the brand, the ITA official said.

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