Tea News and Biz Insight - July 23, 2021

HEAR THE HEADLINES – New Criteria Proposed for Differentiating Specialty Tea
| Walmart Tea is now 100% Certified by Rainforest Alliance | Kenya Sets Tea Auction Price Minimums

| GUEST – Avinash Dugar, founder of the La Gravitea Cafe in Jamshedpur in the north Indian state of Jharkand

| NEWSMAKER – David Veal, Executive Director, European Speciality Tea Association

| FEATURES – Tea Biz this week travels to London for a chat with David Veal, Executive Director of the European Speciality Tea Association. Veal describes the association’s new perspective and new definition of what makes specialty tea special. and then to northern India where Aravinda Anantharaman visits a tea café with heart.

Differentiating Specialty Tea

A rigid definition of what makes tea special has eluded the industry. After 45 years of competitions there is consensus on the qualities that make an outstanding oolong as judged by the Lugu Tea Farmers’ in Taiwan. In France, the AVPA has demonstrated skill in determining the gastronomic qualities in tea that please the local palate. The International Specialty Tea Association posts a set of universal standards such as pluck and leaf quality. Consumers mainly differentiate by price. This week the European Speciality Tea Association announced a definition that is more aspirational that dogmatic. ESTA Executive Director David Veal joins us to explain how the association adopted this approach and why it will prove helpful.

For the Love of Tea

La Gravitea Cafe is a remarkable tea café with hundreds of selections of fine teas inspired by the travels of founder Avinash Dugar but aside from specialty teas, what make LaGravitea special is that the young staff are hard-working graduates of the local school for the hearing-impaired.

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