Tablet tea good to be true

The Statesman (India) ^ | March 22 | Subhendu Ray

[nickcarraway]

SILIGURI, March 22. — Given the abysmal state of the tea industry in these parts, any innovation is good news. But this one promises to make pill-poppers out of tea-drinkers — enter, the tea tablet; exit, tea bags! That, at least, is the claim.

The tea tablet is in the final stage of R&D at the Tocklai Experiment Station (TES) in Jorhat, Assam, and is likely to hit the market within months. The secret formula — patents are pending — has been developed by technicians at TES, the world’s largest tea research facility, Dr M Hazarika, station director, told The Statesman. Confident about the success of the tea tablet once it is launched, he said tablet could easily replace disposable tea bags as the choice of millions if marketed right. But that’s not all.

According to Dr Hazarika, even the chewing-gum market is there for the taking; “the tea tablet could replace the conventional way of consuming the beverage as one can put the pill on one’s tongue while setting off for work.”

There is, however, a catch. The basic tea tablet is very bitter to taste. But, say those working on the pick-up pill, as it were, an instant tea tablet — sugar and milk components added for mellowness — is also being developed. The huge flavoured tea market is also in the developers’ sights and TES scientists are attempting to incorporate the “Western craze” for flavoured tea by experimenting with orange, lemon, cardamom and ginger-flavoured tea tablets. According to Mr S Debnath of TES, the tea tablet would retain the beverage’s renowned medicinal properties

The past few years have been tough for the tea industry. Plunging prices, tough competition from countries such as Sri Lanka and Kenya, labour disputes and the growing popularity of aerated drinks have all contributed to its woes.

[SIDENET]

Solution for a problem that doesn't exist.

[sure_fine]

Solution for a problem that doesn't exist.




but look how it keeps that grant money coming