Purple Is the New Gold: Rare Tea from Arunachal Sells for a Whopping Rs 24501!
In the heart of Arunachal Pradesh’s East Siang District are wild vegetations of a rare kind of tea. This tea, rich in its health benefits was once believed to be from Kenya. But in 2015, the Tocklai Tea Research Institute published a paper revealing that this exotic tea, actually originated in India–Assam, to be accurate. What’s more special about the tea is its colour–purple! “The original plants of Kenyan tea industry were brought into that country mostly from Assam, and the Kenyan tea genetic resources are of Assam origin,” says Pradip Baruah, who published the paper. Would this cup of tea, rich in its purple color and an exotic brew that also has several health benefits, come back to the Indian market? pic courtesy - Stash Tea Although the research paper mentioned Assam to be its place of origin, Manoj Kumar and Pankai Wangtan, who work for the Donyi Polo Tea Estate, had also heard that it grew in some parts of Arunachal Pradesh. And so, they started their search...