Tea expert who home delivers anti-anxiety chai

Radhika Batra can conduct private tea tasting sessions for you, dish out a tip or two on tea drinking etiquette, even home-deliver Chi tea to up your vital energy. She tells Kasmin Fernandes why teas are like fine wines

Tea tasting expert Radhika Batra pours out organic hand-rolled black tea from the Ambootia plantation.
Pics/Rane Ashish

She lends her expertise to various 5-stars establishments including organic restaurant Pure at Taj Lands End, and conducts tea ceremonies at art exhibition openings, brand launches and high profile afternoon parties.

Her brainchild Teacup India, which started off as a tiny unpretentious tea boutique in Bandra, home delivers exotic organic teas that she's personally chosen from plantations in India, China, and Africa.
"Teas are like fine wines; their qualities reflect their origin. Where they are grown, the altitude, climate, soil, all affect the taste of a leaf," says Batra.u00a0

The colours of chai

According to Batra, different growing regions reflect distinctive varieties of teas, while the process through which the leaves are prepared, slot them into three types: Black, Oolong and Green. Black teas are crushed and fermented before being dried. Oolong leaves are a lighter brown since they are only partially fermented, and then steamed. Green tea leaves are merely steamed in order to preserve the leafy colour. So, Green tea is considered best since it takes the least. processing.

What you see described on premium tea packs lining supermarket shelves isn't usually what you get. Most teas have been blended to achieve a uniform taste and quality. "Twenty-five or 30 different tea leaves may go into a supermarket favourite. Even a 'master tea' labelled Darjeeling may in fact, be made from a combination of leaves to achieve a Darjeeling-like taste at an affordable price," says Batra.u00a0

Health in a cup

The teas available at Teacup India come from plantations in the temple city of Laoshan in China, Ambootia in Darjeeling and tea estates in South Africa. There are immunity-building teas that help strengthen your body's natural defences, others are stress reducers, nervous-system soothers and anti-anxiety teas. There are teas that tone specific body systems, "Chi" teas enhance vital energy, and are tonics for both sexes.

"Through the ages, as the black tea plant mingled with herbs from many cultures, tea took on a broader meaning, to encompass a wide variety of herbs. The term 'tea' has now come to refer to a brew made from the leaves, flowers, berries, seeds, roots and bark of a plant, steeped in hot water. This makes tea a drugless remedy, a pure and simple drink that can provide effective herbal defence against diseases," she says.u00a0

Radhika's Tea-time etiquette tips
If etiquette is not your cup of tea, follow these simple tips for elegance, the next time you sip on a cuppa:
>> Take small bites of food so that you can converse politely.
>> Never extend your "pinkie" (little finger) when holding your tea cup.
>> Never gesture with utensils and cutlery while speaking.
>> Don't leave the tea bag in the cup. Once you have dipped the tea bag and finished stirring, drop it in a bin.

Call: For private tea-tasting sessions, ceremonies, tea etiquette training and home delivery of exotic teas, email Teacup India on teacupindia@gmail.com or call 9819599889

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