The attempt by the Indian Tea Association (ITA) to get youngsters to embrace tea as a lifestyle beverage got underway at a mall in Gurgaon on Saturday.

The maiden business-to-consumer (B2C) carnival hosted by the Association of Tea Producers - titled ‘Chai Ho Jaye’ - will make its way to at least 10 other destinations over the next few months.

“This was the first of the ten cities where the event is being hosted this year. We will be visiting Ahmedabad on September 23-24 and then Mumbai in October. The idea is to host one each and we want to cover all Class A and Class B cities over the next three or four years,” said A N Singh, Chairman, ITA.

The campaign, with each carnival pegged to cost about Rs 25-30 lakhs per destination, attempts to educate tea drinkers across India about the benefits of tea and the numerous varieties of the cuppa that are available.

With the rise in small growers in the market and new tracts added in the organised sector alongside re-plantation, industry officials feel that domestic consumption needs to rise in order to maintain the momentum of growth.

The quantity of tea production this year despite a delayed monsoon is likely to be around 1,200 million kg., the same as last year, said a Tea Board of India official.

“Per capita consumption in India is just 750 grams while in Pakistan it is about 1 kg. The young generation - schoolchildren and the 20-30 age group - are who we are targeting to get them interested in tea,” said Singh.

The carnivals also serve as a platform to extol the health benefits of tea which include lowering the risk of heart diseases and cancer while the antioxidants present in tea help minimise cell-damage by detoxifying free radicals, thereby improving the body’s chances of fighting cancer and neurologically degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.

“It is a good drink, a healthy drink, and that is the message we are sending out so that the younger generation don’t move away from the drink,” said Mr. Siddharth, Chairman, Tea Board.

The initiative, which aims to bridge the gap between consumers and the industry, is also a statement on the changing lifestyles in urban and semi-urban India.

While CTC (crush-tear-curl) tea is consumed heavily, it is the more “aesthetically refined” varieties which find few takers.

“A large bulk of the CTC tea we produce is consumed domestically. Our own clientele isn’t even aware of the quality stuff that’s mostly exported - the Darjeelings, top line orthodox teas etc. which are refined teas. If the domestic market begins to get interested in these varieties, I think the rest of the world will have a tough time getting the best of our tea. We need to have tea capture imaginations and get consumers to speak the language of tea, much like wine,” said Krishan Katyal, Managing Director, J. Thomas & Co. Ltd.

Apart from the mobile carnivals, the ITA have also planned other ‘on-ground activities’ to educate consumers about the cuppa's versatility on social media platforms.

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