A new chapter was opened in the annals of South Indian tea, thanks to the joint efforts of Avataa Beverages, Golden Tips Tea Co Pvt Ltd and Paramount Tea Marketing Pvt Ltd., by creating an all-time high price record.

“We created two new price records at Sale 53 of the auctions of Coonoor Tea Trade Association (CTTA) held as a special edition pan-India e-auction on the proposal of Tea Board to hail the first International Tea Day (ITD),” Ravichandran Broos, General Manager, Paramount Tea Marketing, told BusinessLine on Tuesday.

Auctions were held in different centres across the country on Monday with the teas manufactured from the green leaves plucked on ITD – May 21.

“The Avataa Virgin Green tea, auctioned by us, fetched ₹6,110 a kg and the Avataa Oolong tea followed it at ₹5,010 a kg. Both were bought by Golden Tips Tea Co Pvt Ltd,” Broos said.

Consequently, they became the highest price fetched any tea of any factory in any regular auction held anywhere in South India all these years.

“By virtue of this, we have broken the previous record also held by us of ₹2,401 a kg fetched in CTTA auctions in 2018,” G Udayakumar, Director, Avataa Beverages, said.

“We manufacture virgin green tea from the leaves plucked from selective bushes where the leaves themselves sport natural greenish yellow in colour. We use minimal processing to retain the natural fragrance and full leaf appearance,” he said.

“For Oolong teas, we pluck tender two-leaf-and-bud from selective bushes in our Billimalai estate, some 6,000 feet above sea level and create a dark tea with captivating flavour,” ENR Vejayashekara, Avataa Production Executive, said.

“We will be selling these teas through our 17 outlets in different parts of the country. We will also be exporting these teas to the US, Europe, Russia and Japan,” said Madhav Sarda, Chairman, Golden Tips Tea Co.

“We bought these teas at high price because of their exclusive appearance, aroma, mellowness, soft and subtle niche deliciousness as we have select customers who seek such premium teas,” he said. “This will give us another opportunity to showcase India’s best teas in the world market,” he added.