How much do you know about TEA?#INTERNATIONAL TEA DAY.

 International Tea Day :Meet 12 tea startups that are brewing up success by innovating , experimenting

Amaara Herbs

Launched in 2017 by brothers Rupan and Raunak Oberoi and cousin Karan Chadha, Amaara Herbs brings together different varieties of teas and herb blends. This includes Ashwagandha, Shatavari, Gokshura, Basil, Tulsi, Gotu Kola, and Stevia to name a few. 

Amaara Herbs’ retails products via several ecommerce sites, including Amazon, Flipkart, and HealthKart. They also retail via their own website. With herbs being a highly perishable product, the team ensures that the latest produce reaches a potential buyer within the minimum time span. To ensure the freshness of the teas and blends, the team decided to send the cargo by air against shipping it. While this added to the cost, it helped maintain freshness.

  

Aromica Tea

Guwahati-based Aromica Tea was founded in 2018 by husband and wife duo, Ranjit and Dolly Sharma Baruah. The startup offers 30 tea blends. Popular varieties include chamomile tea, tulsi green tea, blue tea, patent-pending bhut jolokia tea, saffron tea, yellow tea, oolong tea, moringa tulsi green tea, and turmeric tea.Aromica sources tea leaves from small-sized tea plantation owners in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. The leaves are available in 50 gm or 100 gm packs and cost between Rs 250 and Rs 600.

The tea startup aims to expand its footprint to Australia before Christmas this year and is also planning to launch in the UK and North America. Making products available in 5,000 outlets across India and creating 75 tea blends is also on the anvil.

Buddies Cafe

Set up in 2012, Buddies Cafe in Coimbatore serves over 70 varieties of tea. From the classic Sulaimani to Japanese matcha tea, South African rooibos tea, English breakfast, earl grey, German herbal-based tea, Egyptian pure chamomile, and Austrian fruit-based infusions, Buddies Cafe has teas to cater to all kinds of tastes. Its clientele includes walk-ins, door deliveries, corporate orders, tea subscriptions, high-tea parties, and tea packaging. It generates revenues from a franchise fee and royalty as well.

Chai Thela

This chain of tea outlets based out of Noida provides the experience of a roadside thela (cart). They provide freshly brewed tea in a modern version of a roadside cart, offering hygienic tea at an affordable price point. They follow the kiosk model and focus on IT parks and colleges. The startup was founded in 2015 by Pankaj Judge and Nitin Chaudhary, alumni of IIT Kharagpur. The company has raised Rs 1.5 crore from Delhi-based VC firm Quarizon.

Celes Té

Founded by Anubha Jhawar, this Delhi-based startup was launched in July 2020. Anubha spent most of 2019 formulating various tea blends. By the end of it, the entrepreneur was ready to launch a tea startup with 19 different blends, including Choco Spice, Serendipity, Orange Escape, Mind Body Soul, and Her Majesty.  

Priced between Rs 500 and Rs 900, Anubha designed packages of 60 gm to encourage people to try different blends of tea. Besides the website, the products are available on Amazon as well.