One of the world's favourite Darjeeling tea, Jungpana, will be retailed in its home market for the first time. Jungpana needs no introduction in the UK or even for the late bloomer in the tea-drinking circuit, France. It is the favourite tea of Fortnum & Mason, popularly referred to as the Queen's grocer and one of the bestsellers at France's historic gourmet tea brand, Mariage Freres. Swiss multinational, Nestle, too has an arrangement with the estate for its Special.T.

In India, however, its reach has been restricted to the tea connoisseurs so far. But that glass ceiling is set to be breached. The best Jungpana will now be sold in India over-the-counter in loose tea form and tea bags, shortly.

"I will be packing my best teas and am not looking at volumes. In the first go, we will have first flush and then second flush. The next batch will be oolongs, probably," Jungpana Director Shantanu Kejriwal, says.

BREWING INDIA PLANS Jungpana is a favoured gourmet Darjeeling tea variety across the world

Popular with the Queen's grocer, Fortnum & Mason and other historic gourmet tea brands

Nestle launched its Special.T pod tea packets with a prominent Jungpana branding on the flap (right)

Evolution of Indian tea consumers has encouraged the brand to retail its best batches

What sells for Rs 20,000 a kg at Harrods, London, will be available for Rs 5,000 a kg

The Jungpana tea estate has been with the Kejriwal family for more than five decades. The tea estate originally belonged to the British tea planter, Henry Lennox, who started plantation in 1899. Subsequently, it was taken over by the Ranas of Nepal, and then passed on to the Kejriwals.

"Tea for me is a passion. Our forte is making the best tea," Kejriwal says with a lot of pride. Currently, what is keeping Kejriwal busy is extending the tea variety to India.

The loose tea is currently available only at the Spencer's hypermart in the luxury mall, Quest, in Kolkata, and is being sold at wholesale price. So, the first flush teas are being sold at Rs 5,000 a kg, what would otherwise cost Rs 20,000 a kg at Harrods in London.

"We will put the best quality tea in tea bags. Usually, tea bags have the worst teas like dust and fannings," Kejriwal explains. The motto here would be the best quality tea at best prices, he says.

Globally, Jungpana has an arrangement with Nestle for its Nespresso machine. It was launched as Nestle Special.T in May, but the arrangement with Nestle has been in place for the last two-three years. Nestle has been sourcing around 2,000 kgs of Jungpana first flush. Talks are on for the second flush, as well.

"Nestle has retained Jungpana's name on the Special.T pod packs (for use in Nestle's pod-style brewing machine). The pack has a short history of Jungpana on its flap," Kejriwal says.

But why is Jungpana making a major entry into its home market so late in the day? A simple answer would be brand value. So far, the packaging has been expensive, while the actual product, tea, comprises just 20 per cent of the cost. But what has now helped is that the Indian market has slowly evolved, to accept such products for what they are.

"Nobody thought people in India would be buying teas worth Rs 4,000-5,000 a kg earlier," Kejriwal says.

Jungpana must be one of the last major players to enter the Indian retail space. Its closest competitor, Castleton, from the Goodricke stable, has been packing some of its teas in caddies (canisters) for long.

It is not that Jungpana was not available at all in India. Strangely, some brokens and fannings (tea batches) of this celebrated tea have also found their way to Maldah (West Bengal district) through local tea shops.

But almost nothing makes it to the auctions from the quality period (first flush and second flush). "Some of the cheaper variety would be sold at auctions, may be from the monsoons, but even for that period we have forward contracts mostly," Kejriwal says.