Darjeeling tea ready to take America by storm

KOLKATA: It has always been one of the 'finest' brands. But the muscatel flavoured ' Darjeeling ' brew was never pushed aggressively in world markets. Quite so, few big buyers still dare to bypass the certified trademark (CTM) and pass off blends as pure 'Darjeelings' into tea markets. But not any longer.

Elaborate efforts to put the 'world's finest teas' centre-stage are being chalked out. Preventing slippages over the certified trademark (CTM) of Darjeelings, going all out in the US markets, working on a Darjeeling Agri Export Zone...all promising to deliver a warm brew this year.

The Tea Board and the Darjeeling Planters Association, the forum of all Darjeeling tea growers are putting in the plans in place. Both the bodies will kick-start roadshows in the USA and Europe shortly. The intention will be to create a complete awareness on Darjeeling teas in these markets.

Talking to ET, K David, chairman, DPA, and MD of the Goodricke Group said, “stagnant demand of these teas is the biggest problem. Heavy publicity is difficult and the idea is to educate global consumers with all kind of props associated with Darjeeling teas like samples, audio visuals, exhibitions from time to time”.

“The brand Darjeeling was always strong but unfortunately the brandname has not been utilised aggressively. Marketing is the key issue and we wish to take a serious look at big markets like USA , Japan and Europe ,” Mr David said.

The association has informed the Tea Board cases of infringement of the CTM Darjeeling teas by some of the global buyers. “Monitoring standards have to be more stringent. Ironically, some of the big cases mark Darjeeling teas in bold letters and have small stickers underneath which says its a blend of Ceylon and Darjeeling teas. Unfortunately a lot of teas pass off like this. There is no problem in using a blend of teas, but an outright infringement is grossly unethical,” Mr David said.

There are some 74 odd gardens in Darjeeling under the association. But many of the Darjeeling growers are not keen to invest, and support the associations.