The ‘Avataa Nilgiri Long Ding Green Tea', popular in the US and Europe, will henceforth be available in the Indian markets.

“This tea has won the prestigious certification ‘tea with superior characteristics' at ‘North American Hot Tea Spring Championship 2011' and was showcased in ‘champion circle' at Las Vegas World Tea Expo. Although it is a premium Nilgiri green tea, so far, it was not available in the Indian markets. We have now launched it in domestic markets,” Mr G. Udayakumar, Director, Bluegate Beverages, which manufactures this connoisseurs' tea, told Business Line .

“This has become possible because of our installing a new production and packing facility at an outlay of Rs 1.5 crore at Billimalai Estate, 12 kilometres from Coonoor. The high-grown leaves from the 250-acres of Billimalai Estate situated at 6,400 feet above sea level alone are used to manufacture this tea,” he said.

‘Avataa' means ‘fresh' in Sanskrit. ‘Long Ding' refers to the celebrated ‘Kaihua Long Ding' tea in China originating in Kaihua county and Long Ding Lake. “Only tender leaves handpicked from select pockets are used. Long and stalky in appearance, the raw material picked as ‘two leaves and a bud' undergoes minimum processing. Accordingly, they retain the best antioxidant properties of green tea. Our pack comes with Tea Board's observation on ‘Green Tea for healthy living' highlighting its protection against cancer and heart ailments,” he said.

“This is multi-brew tea readied with steeping for three minutes some 10 tea leaves in a glass of water heated to about 80 degrees Celsius. water can be added to the same tea four more times. When brewed, the leaves fully open with fresh aroma and leaves sweet aftertaste,” he said.

“This is a high-value-low-volume beverage. We get only 40 kg suitable green leaf daily. We are packing in convenient consumer cans. In the end-market, the tea fetches Rs 3,500 to 4,000 a kg,” he added.

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