Say it with chai! 5 women entrepreneurs who are bringing us joy in a cuppa
You can have your tea and drink it too. For all tea lovers and connoisseurs, here is a list of five women entrepreneurs in the tea business.
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There is nothing like a cup of tea to revive one's spirit and India is definitely a nation of tea drinkers. From small shops to chains such as ChaiPoint, chai is a lucrative industry.
According to Tea Board of India, India's total tea production for FY18 grew to 1325.05 million kg from last year's 1250.49 million kg.
No wonder then chai is such a hit. Over the years, we have seen many startups venture into the tea space- from selling premium tea blends to tea chains or cafes across India.
We look at some of the women entrepreneurs who have made their name in this space, creating unique blends and flavours to our daily tea ritual.
Mayura Rao, Ausum Tea
While she was in London in 2016, Mayura was itching to do something and run a business while working at a global advisory firm. She came upon the idea of tea and story-telling. She realised most people knew about a handful of teas such as English Breakfast and Earl Grey but were unaware of good teas and tea blends and their stories. To make tea drinking cool again she decided to start up in this space. She quit her job, packed her bags and moved to Bengaluru from London and started Ausum Tea with an investment of 10 lakh.
Snigdha Manchanda, Tea Trunk
Snigdha Manchanda founded the Goa-based Tea Trunk in 2013. A tea sommelier, she has attended professional schools of tea in Sri Lanka and also trained under a Japanese Tea Master. Her aim was to provide people with good quality tea and she is doing that with Tea Trunk. She sources a variety of teas from farmers to create unique and natural blends devoid of artificial flavours.
Prerna Kumar, ChaiVeda
Prerna Kumar, was for the first time, out of her job and bedridden with a broken foot when everyone kept cheering her up about how they were waiting for her to bounce back so she could enjoy her tea. In her networks and circles she has always been known for her tea-making skills. With that the idea of ChaiVeda came to her and she started in 2017 creating masala tea blends, leveraging her traditional knowledge of Ayurveda as her family in Haryana was deep rooted into the Ayurvedic tradition.
Rupali Ambegaonkar, Founder, Tea Culture of the World
A qualified medical professional, Rupali Ambegaonkar quit her job to become an entrepreneur. She started the Tea Culture of the World in 2010. The idea was to offer an exquisite range of herbal and flavoured teas.
Rupali Ambegaonkar, Founder, TeaCulture of the World
Rupali is also a certified tea sommelier and lived in a Chinese tea estate where she learnt about brewing and blending. By 2016, Tea Culture of the World had across 20 shops in India.
Anamika Singh, Anandi Himalayan Tea
Anamika Singh grew up in tea manufacturing family and learnt about tea from her father. This tea sommelier has been introducing new infusions in the market. With a desire to introduce good tea to people at an affordable price, Anamika started Anandini Himalaya Tea Room in 2013 in Delhi for people to come sample, learn and talk about tea under one roof. She has a variety of teas from festive blends to Tisanes and classic collection blends, etc. Her tea is mostly sourced from their family-owned tea estate in Dharamsala.
