At the end of a gruelling journey to Bannerghatta Road was a pot of, well, not gold, but tea worth its weight in gold. The Teamonk workshop at the office in Arekere, introduces one to the mysterious world of tea. Taking inspiration from Buddhism (the site says a Buddhist monk discovered tea) the tea names have a spiritual bent. So you have the Reeti (from Sanskrit for natural propensity) white tea from Darjeeling or the Bodh (blossoming) second flush black tea and the Ahina (whole) long leaf green tea.
It is jolly good fun watching the tea leaves unfurl as they steep and imbibing the different, delicate flavours. Ashok Mittal, with nearly 40 years as a tea taster and connoisseur, started TeamonkGlobal with Amit Dutta. “What happens when people of extraordinary passion for a certain something come together – they brew magic,” says Ashok of how TeamonkGlobal came to be.
Sourcing speciality teas from plantations in Darjeeling, Niligiris and Assam, the “start-up of all things tea offers connoisseurs across the world, the best of speciality teas from India.”
Elaborating on the name, Mittal says, “It signifies the outcome of consuming tea; the bliss, calm and peace.” Enumerating the four broad categories of tea available— Black, White, Oolong and Green, Ashok says, “we have 43 variants.”
Chary of picking the most popular, Mittal says, “Tea is personalised to suit individual taste and therefore all categories have a best seller in them. However, within green tea variants, tea with natural ingredients such as mint, tulsi and jasmine do well.”
In this rarefied world, one feels like a philistine confessing to a fondness for cutting chai. “Research proves that cutting chai reduces the benefits of tea with the addition of milk and sugar,” Mittal comments, clarifying, “However, cutting chai is a tradition and will therefore continue to be popular amongst majority of Indians.”
Tea bags at Teamonk are in pyramid shape allowing for the leaves to unfurl. “In order to brew properly, tea leaves have to move around. Only tea dust particles move in the tiny space of a traditional tea bag which is the primary reason why tea dust was and is used. This means you get tea with great colour, a strong brew but poor quality. The pyramid tea bags allow you to enjoy the same quality and flavour of whole leaf teas with the convenience of a teabag.”
“Green, white and oolong teas will be trending in 2017,” Mittal says. The site also sells exquisite tea-ware, from tea sets and pots to mugs and jars in ceramic — a perfect gift for Hatter’s next tea party.
