It was someone from the office (I think from Marketing) who said, “Why aren’t we doing more Indian blends? We are an Indian tea company, after all!”
And before anyone could say anything he added, “Not chai! Theres more to Indian tea than chai!”
There, the germ of an idea was planted.
It was still spring in Darjeeling, a busy time for us with the first flush. But already we were thinking of summer and what we could do for the season. Our R&D takes anywhere from three to six months and our calendars are always running ahead of the convention.
We were leaning towards iced chais when someone (quite likely from Marketing) said, once again, “No, not chai!” We couldn’t ignore the sentiment much longer and began to pursue what we’ve always wanted to toggle with – iced teas.
Why, you ask? Because when you come from a country that enjoys a long, warm summer you get pretty good at coming up ingenious ways to keep cool. The season has lent itself to the discovery of some spectacular (Indian) coolers. Open any fridge in any Indian home in summer and depending on which part of the country you are in, you’ll find one of these: Jal Jeera, Aam Panna, Kokum juice, Nannari, Butter milk, Badam milk… all Indian, all natural, and all pretty darn refreshing. And therein lay our Hail Mary moment – iced tea blends inspired by Indian summer brews.
The idea began to move full-steam ahead.
The first part of the whole activity was the most interesting one finding Indian ingredients that would lend themselves to an iced tea blend, ideally in a way that didn’t fiddle with the common taste notions associated with iced tea.
We spoke to people, peeked into our homes, rummaged through mum’s recipe cabinet, and drew inspiration from all taste memories we could gather. Once we had a list of blends we wanted to create, we had to source the ingredients. And then came the part where we had to figure out which teas would work well with a certain ingredient and if the eventual concoction would taste good upon chilling. It will not be an exaggeration to claim that the R&D team went on a tasting spree (not that anyone was complaining). We first tasted all of these concoctions hot since cold numbs the palate. It was a familiar cycle of blending-steeping-tasting-adjusting and that went on for over a month.
Even as spring faded and summer peeked from around the corner, we had 10 blends that we were rather happy with, including one inspired by the raw mango drink, aam panna. Our blends are unique for the reason that we’ve used farm fresh teas and all natural ingredients. And the surprise of the pack is a coffee-flavored iced tea (who knew!).
Back in Bangalore, where our Marketing team is based, names for the iced tea blends were pondered upon. How it all came about is quite vague, but one hears that they drew inspiration from a lot of things – the teas and their ingredients, inherent tea attributes, colors of the brew, the mood of the day, that girl in Design with the flamboyant style, and Yoda. It is fair to say the names do justice to an inherent quality of each blend. And that is the story behind the names.
Launch day.
<Fade in>
Frantic souls everywhere.
Bedlam unraveling on every work station as Teabox Bangalore readies to go live with the blends.
Copious amounts of tea and temper later, the blends are live and heaving souls sigh with relief.
A plan to brew a pot of Pineapple Rush was put in motion by all as the kettle came to a boil once again. It was cool-off time.
<Fade out>
