Why’s A Tiny Stall In Kolkata Selling Tea For Rs 1000 A Cup?

Just come to think of it- how much can a sum of Rs 1000 afford you in India? Surely, for starters, that’s around 10 liters of fuel, with there being marginal difference in the rate of petrol and diesel. A sum of Rs 1000 can also afford you a couple of deodorants from noted brands in the lifestyle segment. Apart from taking your friend for a movie in any of the leading multiplexes in the city, you can also book a local cab for the entirety of a day for that sum.

Want more? You can very well get a T shirt and perhaps a pair of socks from a sports brand. But would you ever in the living daylight of your existence spend that amount of money for a cup of tea? Yes, for a single cup of tea?

The question is just why would anyone have tea for Rs 1000 a cup?

Upon first thoughts, someone who can really afford to dispense with that lot of cash can actually have tea at Rs 1000 a cup but in a posh five-star hotel. Probably, even there one may not have to part with that big a sum, don’t you think?

But recently when a tea stall in Kolkata made headlines for selling tea at Rs 1000 a cup, there emerged, as expected, some furor. Just what was going on? Why on earth would someone be consuming “Chai,” i.e., tea at Rs 1000 a cup and that too from a local tea outlet in the streets of Kolkata? There ain’t no spring of joy in this one from the city of joy, don’t you think?

But that’s not the end of the story; rather that is the very tipping point. As it turned out, this particular chai stall actually uses an umbrella as a roof with a few plastic chairs around. And for some reason, perhaps in lines with the outrageous price point, it’s sprung to life as an internet sensation.

Covering the story in greater detail, a news coverage in LiveMint had the following to share:

Partha Pratin Ganguly set up the place in January of 2014 as a passion project when the concept of flavoured tea was still new. He is now offering around 100 varieties of tea costing from ₹12 to ₹1,000 for a cup, he told NDTV.

He says that out of the 100, 60-75 varieties are from Darjeeling and the rest from all over the world.

Upon some deliberation, it became known that the particular tea being sold at Rs 1000 a cup happens to be Silver Needle White Tea.

The owner of the stall confirmed that the key specialty of this kind of ‘Chai’ is that it happens to be one of the purest forms of tea in the world.

So could it be that there’s something about the preparation of this chai and the way its essence is brought to life that goes on to balloon its cost?

Here’s what Mr. Ganguly had to say, “100 kg of this tea requires three times more time, expense, money and labour as compared to 100 kg of black tea. This is what makes it the most expensive tea of the world.”

It’s now known that the white tea actually hails from China and is, in fact, known as Baihao Yinzhen, produced in the Fujian district. Still, how comfortable are you to part with a sum of Rs 1000 for a single cup of it? I know I am not!