What spring brings to Indian tea

It’s a bit of a lull period in tea, as seasons shift and tea gardens are just stirring with the arrival of spring. Although the south Indian tea gardens have remained open and busy, spring does feel like a new start. Once more, we turn towards Darjeeling where the spring flush has always been a big deal, setting the tone for the year to follow. The first batches have begun to arrive in stores. This year too, worries continue, of climate uncertainties, negotiations with workers, the closure of several tea gardens, low volumes of tea which has meant lowered revenue, and the continued battle to preserve Darjeeling tea as rare, premium and worth the top dollar.

We depend on exports, which was about 20% of our production last year. Among our top importers are countries directly impacted by invasions and occupations. Iran, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates are significant Indian tea importers.

At 80% consumption, we are our biggest market. Its an oft-heard remark attributed to Chinese tea folks that we in India send out our best teas and keep the rest for ourselves while their best is retained for their own consumption. We love our CTC tea too much, and have not quite created a market for the premium experience. The tug of war remains between too much supply of some kinds of tea and too little demand for what may fetch better prices.

Recently there was a LinkedIn post by Andi Bugingo, a tea enthusiast from Rwanda, on why China has never needed tea auctions. The plantation economy started by the British relied on a global auction system to trade tea, requiring standardisation, homogeneity, bulk volumes, blending, mass sales. Bugingo points out that in China, tea is made by smallholders, inheriting a tradition of tea making that they learnt, refined and passed on, where microclimates were celebrated for the character they brought to a tea. “Reputation, origin, and craftsmanship determine value as much as supply and demand,” writes Bugingo.

His post comes shortly after the Indian tea board’s call to mandatorily trade 50% of teas via the auctions. Despite this insistence, Indian producers seem to prefer alternative routes of private sales, where they can negotiate the best possible prices. The auction may favour the buyer and is preferred by the small tea growers but not the estates. And they still remain parochial—although digitised, auctions are organised by geography, missing the opportunity to truly open them up, raise the bar and encourage greater competitiveness. Coffee and rubber—the other two plantation commodities—have long shed auctions as the trade route.

Going back to Bugingo’s report, he speaks of the direct contact that the internet has enabled for farmers and buyers, and the “unexpected advantage of the decentralised model” of China—“a buffer against shocks”. As a new season begins, I am thinking about how vulnerable we continue to be, and the urgent need to spread our risks better.

1001 Teas is a fortnightly series about the many stories hidden in the world of tea.

Aravinda Anantharaman (@AravindaAnanth1) is a tea drinker, writer and editor.