How Millennials and Gen Z are reinventing Indian tea

What’s common to this group of four: a green cupcake, a (full) champagne flute, a brown, wobbly panna cotta, and a dainty cup of golden red English Breakfast? It’s tea. But, how can that be?

For too long, we have looked at tea as a shot of energy or as a calming beverage. True, tea is that. But, fun things are stirring in the world of tea. Like the green tea powder matcha finding prolific use in cooking and baking, including in cupcakes. Or sparkling tea, completely at ease on any fine dining menu. Tea is now more than a hot, enjoyable drink that comes calling mid-morning and late afternoon.

I got interested in tea when I started looking for better black tea and more leafy Assams. I tasted white teas, which both delighted and surprised me. It has since been a journey of discovering one tea at a time. Sometimes tea assumes a cultural context, as with the boiled, sweet and milky chai drunk in most parts of the country or the fragrant kahwa of Kashmir, which are inextricably linked to place and people, and sometimes it’s about a seasonal exception, such as a spring or autumn tea. Sometimes, it’s the planter or blender’s excitement in how a tea has come out, either in a good harvest or in the final cup, that makes a tea special. As I write this, my phone pings with a tea friend’s message about a new line of flavoured teas listing bubblegum as one of the flavours. Not long ago, I’d have baulked at the idea of it, claiming loyalty only to Camellia sinensis, the tea plant. Now, I am curious if the bubblegum tea has a green tea base and whether it will work better hot or cold. I still prefer tea without much else added to it, but the more time I spend drinking, learning and writing about tea, it seems to me that change is inevitable and not all of it is necessarily a bad thing.

In the spirit of things

In March, the husband-wife duo of Vidya, 33, and Poorna Tej Valluru, 40, opened the Chit Chat Chai tea bar at Hyderabad’s Banjara Hills. Tea-based mocktails make up a big part of their menu because they wanted to offer new ways to consume tea. “Tea shouldn’t be just green, black, chai,” says Poorna. Fascinated by how whiskies and wines are processed, he’d like tea to find its place among them, as part of the finer life. In 2015, Vidya signed up for a certification with the International Tea Masters Association training as a tea sommelier and master blender with Parag Hatibarua, while Poorna followed a few years later in 2020 with a course in bartending and mixology from the European Bartending School, Mumbai. It was, an unexpected career choice given that both were in the technology sector. Between them, tea is a constant experiment leading to new brews and new flavours that change with the seasons.

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At their café, customers come for chai but are shown that tea is a herb with a variety of flavours. They offer tea in cold brews, as fruit infusions and botanical blends, as flavoured chai. “I was fascinated with the larger-than-life tea aspect. When you say tea, it’s soothing, calming, rejuvenating. On the other side, it was about daily grind and chai to get you running. There was a story missing—on tea as part of the finer things in life. That’s where we started our journey,” says Poorna.

The summer special is a hibiscus mango pop, made with a black tea base and home-brewed shrubs and syrups.

In Delhi’s Sidecar cocktail bar, Yangdup Lama, a Darjeeling native, a second flush loyalist and India’s foremost bartender and mixologist, has his own take on tea. “There are two ways to look at tea,” he says. “As tea and as something more than tea.” Tea is not new to cocktails and mocktails but is enjoying a renewed interest as mixologists seek more herbs and botanicals to infuse new flavours into cocktails. When you think of tea as an herb, as a replacement for water, as adding another layer of flavour, and of the various tea styles that could complement various spirits, the flavour possibilities it offers are considerable.

In 2021, Rudra Chatterjee, managing director of Bengal-based Luxmi Tea, and Lama decided to combine their Darjeeling connection and collaborate for a short campaign. With teas from Chatterjee’s Makaibari gardens—not far from Gayabari where Lama grew up—Lama created six cocktails. The first was called A Summer Solstice, gin infused with Makaibari’s summer solstice tea, with rhododendron (another hat tip to these hills) blanc vermouth, lemon peel oils and edible flowers. The six cocktails, with names like Darjeeling Mail (Makaibari second flush, Bourbon whisky, London Essence Co. ginger ale, orange essential oils) and Agony of the Leaves (gin, Makaibari Darjoolong, lime acid, palm sugar), were on Sidecar’s menu for half a year, showing another side of tea

Lama is eager to bring more tea to the bar. “The flavour of tea, the tannic dryness and the aroma works well with spirits in cocktails in different formats,” says Lama, adding that there are teas that work well with aged spirits like whisky, rum and cognac while others work best with spirits like gin and vodka. “Also flavoured teas make some amazing cocktails. Tall, nice and easy drinks like alcoholic ice teas.”

Let’s not forget craft gin, which is doing its part to promote tea. Gin’s natural affinity for botanicals more than embraces Camellia sinensis. Just look at this list of home-grown craft gins: Amrut Distilleries’ Nilgiris (Nilgiri tea), Jin Jiji’s Darjeeling (FTGFOP1 black tea from Jungpana), Raincheck Earth’s Cherrapunji (Assam Black), Spaceman Spirits’ Samsara Vale of Paradise (Kashmiri green tea), Radico Khaitan’s Jaisalmer (Darjeeling green tea), Adventurist Spirits’ Tamras (Nilgiri tea). A G&T may well stand for gin and tea if we can keep this going.

As to why gin and tea pair well, Nikhil Varma, who created the Nilgiris gin for Amrut distilleries, says, “Distilled gin is made entirely using botanicals of all kinds from spices, herbs, flowers to berries and tea leaves are extremely intricate and nuanced in their flavour profile. Depending on the varietal or type of tea and distilled with the right combination of base botanicals, the tea accentuates a complex layer of flavours that benefits the aroma and taste of the gin, when sipped as is or mixed in a cocktail.”

According to Lama, “Tea probably gives gin a nice greenish tannic character and also adds a strong value to the story. Tea brings provenance to the gin.”

Tea is starting to present itself in a form and style that’s right up there with fine wine. I first spoke to award-winning sommelier Jacob Kocemba of Copenhagen Sparkling Tea Company in 2020 and have since regularly checked in to see when these sparkling teas will arrive in India. Kocemba said they are bringing it to India soon. Sparkling tea—a blend of more than a dozen different organic tea types, ranging from white to black, bottled with white wine or grape juice and other natural aromatics—is now slotted into the wine list.

Back in 2009, Kocemba, who worked as a wine sommelier at a restaurant in Denmark, was asked to create a drink to pair with a new dessert. Finding nothing suitable in his cellar of 1,700 wines, he turned to the shelf that held tea. Today, his Copenhagen Sparkling Tea Company is seven years old and offers six sparkling teas, both non-alcoholic and low-alcohol; some with as many as 13 different teas. The flavours of tea are extracted at different temperatures and at different time intervals. “Like champagne,” says Kocemba, on how tea is used in sparkling tea. Marketed as the alternative to champagne, bottled and served like champagne, they do make tea look very good.

Tea cocktails, mocktails and sparkling tea are still “craft” and “small batch” but the day is not far off that you can walk into a bar and ask for something with tea.

Also read: How to dine out like a food writer

#TeaPower

In the run-up to the International Tea Day on 21 May, a new campaign called #TeaPower was conceptualised by the Intergovernmental Group on Tea (IGG), a global group that’s part of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

Tasked with promoting the beverage, the group felt that tea and health were a natural fit, especially in the post-covid world where staying healthy and self-care have assumed more importance. For a younger audience who may well be tomorrow’s tea drinkers, wellness is a big priority. #TeaPower was about placing tea within the space of sports and wellness to change how people perceive the drink. With its natural anti-oxidants and flavonoids, tea is simply flavoured and fortified water. When we strip away the milk, sweetener and spices, what we have is tea with its inherent goodness, and with just enough caffeine to boost its appeal.

Says Shabnam Weber of the Tea and Herbals Association of Canada, and vice-chair of the IGG, “I exercise in order to keep my body strong, to prevent getting sick. That’s where we need to bring tea. Tea is not medicine. It’s about the nutrients and sunlight and walking and yoga that I put into my day. No sugar, no calories. That’s how we should start positioning tea. That’s the hook.”

Can tea become the beverage to reach out for to hydrate? As a more flavourful option to water, and better than a carbonated drink? It can be iced or hot, blended or flavoured, shaken or steeped. Can it become the bottle of choice to reach for on a run, after a workout? Yes, for when you look at tea without all the added indulgences, it’s a beverage that’s good for you. While brewed tea is not a replacement for water, it contributes to the daily required intake of hydration well.

There is a growing segment of ready-to-drink iced teas, although most come as sweetened options. Choose brands that use good quality tea. Companies like Goodricke offer a retail range. A brand that champions sugar-free bottled tea options is TeaFit. Of course, you can also brew your own with fruity iced tea blends offered by brands like Vahdam and Karma Kettle. Steep a cold brew overnight and you have your very own tea-to-go.

Gateway to tea

I heard the phrase “gateway teas” more than once when I asked tea folks about flavoured teas. A gateway to the world of tea. As tea brands have realised, flavoured teas are a great way to get people to try new teas. Familiar flavours like mint and green tea or chamomile green tea, an all-time chart-topper, offer a friendly invitation to get adventurous with tea. Tea producers who’ve turned to retail give it grudging love because flavoured tea brings customers and sales in a way their speciality tea have not.

Purists have long dismissed flavoured teas as a lesser tea because it doesn’t celebrate the tea. No matter what views one has, the thing is that in most markets, flavoured teas are sought after.

Rudra Chatterjee, whose company owns some legacy estates and who recently launched 19 new additions to their flavoured range, says, “ While our heritage lies in classic black teas, we’re witnessing a shift in India—a renewed appreciation for flavoured/functional teas. We’re embracing this trend by incorporating the finest organic spices, herbs, and botanicals into our blends. It’s about honouring tradition while offering exciting new flavour profiles that resonate with a modern India.”

One of the most ardent defenders of flavoured tea is William Dietz, author of Spill the Tea: Unveiling the Mysteries of Blended, Flavoured and Herbal Teas (2023). “Fruity blends can convert habitual juice drinkers, and a caramel-coffee-flavoured black tea might sway the most dedicated coffee lover. As a tea enthusiast, I’m always eager to introduce people to tea, and flavoured tea helps bridge the gap and make tea relatable,” he tells Lounge.

The thing with flavoured tea is that the trade-off is quality because the flavours command a greater share of attention. So, choose brands that champion tea; many tea brands offer a range of flavoured teas, blended in-house. Some like Dorje Teas and Tea Trunk invite you to choose your blend from a list of options such as spice and floral. Another point to note is that there are two ways to flavour tea, natural and artificial, based on the source. Both share a chemical structure. Says Dietz, “Neither is better or worse than the other. There are no concrete answers to the debate between natural and artificial flavours. It is worth mentioning that flavouring ends up in trace amounts in your cup of tea, around 0.001%.”

Cult classics

Even among teas, some have achieved cult status. Looking back over the last two decades, the tea popularity chart has bubble tea, matcha, kombucha and chai. They are not new creations, but they rank high in popularity even today, perhaps more popular than they were a decade ago. While at first they may have found novelty appeal, that they are still trending says something for them.

Boba or bubble tea is thought to be a Taiwanese innovation. The original recipe includes sweet and milky black tea with chewy tapioca balls and shaved ice, making for a creamy, smooth, cool and fun drink that you could carry to go. In Taiwan, it started trending in the 1980s. It’s fun, it’s a drink to enjoy out of home, and it comes in so many flavours—three reasons why it’s still finding takers, and has become increasingly popular in India as well, with boba tea bars opening in Delhi and Bengaluru and the drink being included in beverage menus.

I ask Ankit Gupta, co-founder of the restaurant Burma Burma, why he offers a fine tea bar and bubble tea. “Fine tea and bubble tea attract different audiences, but there’s a lot of crossover. Tea lovers enjoy fine tea for its subtle flavours and rich history, while bubble tea draws a younger, adventurous crowd looking for something trendy and new. Interestingly, traditional tea fans are also becoming more interested in bubble tea.”

Matcha is a Japanese tea that caught the world’s attention about two decades ago as a healthy beverage with a nice caffeine kick. In making matcha, the leaf is processed and powdered so that one ingests the leaf, as opposed to steeping and discarding them. While ceremonial-grade matcha in Japan is still in use in a formal tea ceremony, outside Japan culinary grade matcha is extensively used in cooking and baking. With a pronounced umami flavour and a striking green colour, it’s a versatile tea. But perhaps the version that everyone has tried at least once is the matcha latte, popularised by Starbucks, and available conveniently as a to-go option.

The popularity of kombucha also grew with its purported health benefits, when a young American, George Thomas Dave, who now runs GT’s Living Foods, began selling this cultured tea in health stores in the US in 1995. By 1999 he was selling a range of flavours in Whole Foods stores across California. Today, kombucha has a devoted following all over the world with many swearing by its gut health benefits. It spawned a band of home booch (a portmanteau of hooch and kombucha) brewers, who enjoy it as a hobby. It’s also available in ready-to-drink bottled options, which again, makes it convenient and accessible.

And lastly, chai is our contribution to classic teas of the world. Whatever our peeve may be about the world calling it a chai latte, it did put it on café menus. Like the matcha latte, it was Starbucks that helped popularise chai as chai latte in the late 1990s. It may taste and feel different from the chai we drink at home or on our streets but it makes it an easy takeaway option, like coffee. Now, with more milk options, like soy and almond, chai too lends itself to variations once never imagined.

Not just in India, these teas have a following in the Western world too. Sharon Hall of the UK Tea and Infusions Association (UKTIA) says, “Latte versions of chai, Earl Grey and matcha, made with a higher milk content and served with artistic flair are growing in popularity and are seen as a treat.”

Chai operators are growing in the UK, with brands like Chaiiwala, Karak Chaii, Amala Chai and Chai Guys opening outlets in London and across the UK. In France, business owner and promoter of Indian tea, Anne-Frédérique Dayraut, says, “I think the interest comes from the fact that they are like recipes, which are almost dissociated from tea and considered as standalone beverages, an alternative to coffee. You could almost say, there’s chai, matcha, bubble tea, tea and coffee.”

Also read: 7 books for the chai nerd

Tea of the future

An experiment is underway at the Koliabur tea estate in Assam on extracting polyphenols from tea leaves to process it differently and retain the nutrition. Polyphenols are antioxidants, neutralising free radicals, so help fight disease and maintain well-being. The startup, known as Evolving Innovations, was founded in 2021 by planter Shekib Ahmed, botanist Kiran Gogoi, and entrepreneur Yuvraj Borah. One of their mentors is tea veteran and supporter of technology and innovation in tea Abhijeet Hazarika, who has been working in tea extraction since 2019. The company has set out to reimagine the steps in tea processing. These trials have been ongoing for four years now and they are seeing success in extracting polyphenols from tea.

“A lot of polyphenols are lost in the current method of tea production. The aim is to preserve the antioxidants and to ensure that the same quantity of the polyphenols are present in each batch of manufacture,” says Hazarika.

He compares their experiment to soya, “once just animal feed that has since transformed into soya oil, soya chunks, soya meal, for its nutritional value”, and millet, “which transformed from a poor man’s food to the top end of nutrition” as inspiration to look at tea anew. “We thought why not change how we look at tea,” he says.

Since tea begins to lose nutrients once it’s plucked and processed, the extraction is done from the leaf itself. What it means is that tea could become a natural source of phytochemicals, like L-theanine, known for mental wellness-inducing properties, theaflavin, with antioxidant properties, and even caffeine. They could be used to fortify snacks and even water. “Tea in the long term will not hold appeal as a beverage alone and needs to reinvent itself,” says Hazarika. He believes that tea will have a higher appeal in the health and wellness space than as a beverage.

Also read: How climate change affects tea 

Back in the cup

And what of tea itself? Tea as we have known it will remain, of course. Made and sold as a beverage—the second most popular drink after water, as is often remarked—it isn’t going away. Neither is the small segment we call speciality tea, made up of all the various styles of black, white, green, oolong, pu’erh and aged. Brands need to reinvent to appeal to new and younger tea drinkers. Sparsh Agarwal, who runs the tea brand, Dorje Teas, calls it a “generational fatigue”, that young folks want something that speaks to them and not just what their parents consumed.

And this is a global story: In Japan, Ian Chun, who runs Yunomi Tea to promote small farmer teas, says that for young people tea is part of the culture “in the way kimono is”. Otherwise, the tea of choice is bottled—quick and easy. “I believe, and what I am exploring now, is a redefinition of ‘Japanese tea’ to include tea blended with other Japanese ingredients. Like genmaicha, which is green tea flavoured with toasted rice, I think we can create a new tradition to create new interest in the Japanese tea industry”, he says on why he started Yunomi.

Vincent Liu, who has been sourcing tea in China in the past three years for a US-based subscription service MyTeaPal Club, says, “The commercial market had an impact on how young people think about tea. The market is upgrading itself. You have to innovate to survive in the commercial market. Competition and cultural trends have caused more people to gain interest in tea.” He talks about Chinese contemporary tea brands and cafes like Chagee and Tea’Stone, that have borrowed from tradition but speak to a Gen Z or millennial customer. They are modern and stylish stores. If Chagee specifies the tea—Da hang pao or tie guan yin—that has gone into the ready-to-drink bottled tea, Tea’Stone’s sleek decor shows how Eastern aesthetics and modern needs can sit alongside each other in an open bar that serves tea made to order, brewed hot or cold.

In the UK, Hall says, UKTIA’s research has identified that most people think the best cup of tea is the one they make themselves. “A new lexicon is needed to ensure consumers can order tea just how they like it out of home. The industry also needs to explore how tea can be more fun, bespoke and interesting to make the out-of-home experience more enjoyable for consumers,” says Hall.

It’s a long list of asks—that tea remain a friendly and comforting beverage but not boring, good for you yet tasty, accessible but also bespoke, high quality yet affordable, convenient but also special. The good news is that the versatile tea can happily check all those contradictions, offering something for everyone.

Aravinda Anantharaman is a Bengaluru-based tea blogger and writer who reports on the tea industry. She posts @AravindaAnanth1.

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