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Jungpana Darjeeling

India set to sip Jungpana Darjeeling

Sovon.Manna@timesgroup.com Kolkata:

The Times of India Jul 26 2014

Jungpana Darjeeling

Although an Indianowned 115-year-old brew that's acclaimed by its worldwide connoisseurs, Jungpana Darjeeling has never been a known name to the lovers of the finest Darjeeling tea in the country .

The elusive Darjeeling brand -which has been catalogued at the royal grocer Fortnum and Mason's Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon, across all top hospitality places and high-end global markets -will now be available in India in tea bags and branded loose format.

So far, the leaves coming from the southern slopes of Darjeeling had always been sold through auctioneers and private sales via brokers to every other part of the world except India. Started by legendary British planter Henry Montgomery Lennox in 1899, the Jungpana Tea Estate was acquired by the Kejriwals in 1956 from the Ranas of Nepal, who had acquired the garden following the departure of the British.

Shantanu Kejriwal, the third-generation tea planter and current owner of Jungpana, told TOI: “I missed the bus in the US market to brands like Makaibari and Ambootia. This time, I can't afford to make the same mistake in India. I am already late, so I have decided to take the select retail path as soon as possible. If not now, some other brands might grab the space.“

Initially, the planter would open Jungpana counters at two high-end shopping malls each in Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi and later in Bangalore. Kejriwal has already spoken to top shopping mall brands like Spencers and plans to unveil exclusive Jungpana tea counters within two months' time.

Apack of ten Jungpana pyramid tea bags -of first flush, second flush and green varieties -would be priced at Rs 250 in India. Jungpana loose first flush black, oolong/green and post second flush will be sold for Rs 5,000, Rs 3,000 and Rs 2,500 per kg respectively in India. On the availability of customers of such a high-value tea in India, Kejriwal claimed, “I will be selling it in retail coun ters at nearly wholesale prices in India, which would be almost one-fourth the European market rates. Young Indian tea buyers wouldn't mind paying more for it, which would still be lesser in price than a can of cola, unit-wise.“

Arun N Singh, MD, Goodricke group, which owns another iconic Darjeeling tea brand Castleton, welcomed Kejriwal's decision to retail Jungpana tea. Singh, who is also the chairman of the Indian Tea Association (ITA), said, “It's good that Indian buyers will have more options among the finest quality tea brands. India is a huge and mature market and it will be better if Jungpana steps in.“

For the last few years, the brand Jungpana has been consistently fetching one of the top average prices at the auction houses and private sales bodies. According to last available figures from J Thomas & Co Pvt Ltd, one of the world's oldest and largest tea auctioneers, on an average, Jungpana sold at Rs 856.33 a kg -its nearest Darjeeling brand Castleton fetched Rs 569.15 -from April to the second week of November.

2016: Auctions go online

The Times of India, Jun 20 2016

Sovon Manna   150-year-old tradition bites the dust as auctions for the champagne of chais go online

Since the first public tea auction in India organized by R Thomas and Co at 2, Mission Row in the city's central business district on December 27, 1861, these informal gestures used in bids made for a quirky and fascinating convention called `outcry auction'.

Eight years ago, the auction of all teas except Darjeeling was moved online.But the priciest of Indian teas continued to stick to tradition because it was way too expensive to be bought and sold alongside humbler leaves.

The wooden, semi-oval gallery was always full of stylishly dressed buyers listening keenly to the auctioneer reeling out items from his Darjeeling catalogue. A chorus of humming sounds would then fill the air, trying to draw the auctioneer's attention. The bids and counter bids start pouring in and finally the bang of the hammer would seal it for the winning buyer.

This ritual will now go online. The `auto-bid' quotes can be keyed in for as many as eight lot sales in two minutes (manual auction sold in nearly double the time -2.2 lots per minute with each lot containing an average of 125kg of tea. Even one rupee above the second highest will be the final winning price. It's fair and transparent price discovery, says a top banker at the Bank of India, the official banker to the e-auction.

The industry still thinks that e-auction couldn't handle the huge price variations of Darjeeling in a short timeframe. “Darjeeling tea has so many varieties with so many nuances, specialties, flush dif ference. How will you determine the prices in a second?“ asks Bharat Arya, chairman of J Gokal, world's largest exporter of black tea.

Darjeeling tea has traditionally been sold in Kolkata, owing to the nearby port and the concentration of exporters' offices. “Auction volumes have seen a decline over the past decade, largely owing to producers directly accessing overseas buyers. Notwithstanding this, the vibrancy of the auction room has never been dampened,“ says Krishan Katiyal, chairman and managing director of J Thomas.

The British influence on tea auction was there till the last day , says Arya. “Auctioneers were dressed in suits and ties. Buyers, too, maintained the bidding room decorum by sticking to Western or Indian formal attire. I have never seen people wear chappals in the auction room.“

The auctioneer always knew who wanted which lot, where to prod and poke, who were the natural competitors and so on. “The 8.30am to 6.30pm auction schedule has never been tedious or boring. Some below-the-belt humour, borderline bullying and verbal brickbats set the mood of the day. But it has always been a gentleman's game,“ Arya adds.

Till the 60s, the buyers and traders in the auction room were served drinks in the late afternoon. “Even till the 70s, we used to have lunch at the expense of auctioneers like J Thomas,“ he adds. Pradosh Kumar Sen, the past chairman of J Thomas, recalls a fascinating auction room drama starring himself. “ A powerful buyer once replied to my repeated price pleading with: `Don't beg'. I closed the catalogue and asked him to apologize. He had to say sorry and ironically he got the bid with two rupees more. I knocked the hammer but its head broke off and quite magically flew towards the same buyer and hit him. The whole room burst into laughter.“

Azam Monem, wholetime director at McLeod Russel, the largest producer of tea in the world, hopes that some physical auction will continue to happen, if only for the “very, very costly and exclusive variety“ of designer tea. “It is like auctioning rare paintings or a work of art. Remember, London tea market isn't done with physical auction yet,“ he says.