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Taste of Time

Besides killing the mithai business, Raghav’s expansion plans involve making gourmet teas part of urban Indian rituals - going out with friends for tea instead of coffee or setting up a fancy tea counter at your next Sunday brunch. And to do this, they’re not depending entirely on you. Raghav’s business already has an on-ground division called Nirvana Tea that organises tastings at parties (they recently did one at a Forbes 500 do) and sets up counters at weddings. Here’s how it works: they’ll send over an expert who’ll take you through 100 different samples in an hour and stick you with a minimum bill of Rs 5,000. Raghav also sources fancy crockery - pots that infuse leaves, sandglass tea timers and cool stainless steel sticks that can be filled with leaves and dipped directly into a mug of hot water. 
So the next time you have some good news, cancel the barfi and raise your glass of strawberry tea. It’ll be just as sweet, promises Raghav.

This is not the message 26 year old Raghav Gupta wanted to send out with his wedding invitation last year. He wanted to cut out the mithai box and replace it with something healthy – pretty boxes of tea leaves, perhaps?

It’s this hunt that led the Napeasea Road resident and his brother to bring Sri Lanka’s Basilur Tea to India couple of months ago. Under this label, they package green, black and oolong tea with real fruit and flowers imported from Germany, put them in pretty boxes shaped like books and stars, and deliver them to your doorstep. If you’d rather not leaf through the 150 variety-long menu, allow us to share the highlights: Marzipan, strawberries and cream, melon and cantaloupe, roasted almond, raspberry and rose hip. 

Sigh for chai! These you can buy online and have shipped anywhere in India within two days with no additional charge. If you want to sample some of these before you actually invest in a box (100 gms of green tea for Rs 700), you can grab a cup at Café by The Beach (Marine Drive) or Silver Beach Café (Juhu), where Raghav is the chief chai supplier.