It's tea time

Take part in a tea appreciation workshop, where tea sommelier Snigdha Manchanda will introduce you to eight varieties of tea and share some important tips on drinking tea

"India is famous for tea production, but if you give Darjeeling tea or Assam tea to someone, they will not be able to recognise which tea they are drinking," says tea sommelier Snigdha Manchanda Binjola. She was talking to us during the Tea Appreciation Workshop that was held, this Friday, at Godrej Nature's Basket. Snigdha is a trained tea sommelier from Sri Lanka and she is famous for creating signature teas. "The main aim of conducting these seminars is that I wanted to do away with popular myths like tea is unhealthy. I also wanted to show people the different avatars of tea, which are very different from the celebrated masala chai," she adds.


Snigdha Manchanda conducting a tea appreciation workshop

At the workshop, Snigdha took the participants on a tour introducing them to eight types of tea from across the world including Green Tea from China, Green Sencha from Japan and The Flowering Tea. Black teas including Darjeeling tea, Assam Tea and the Ceylon Tea from Sri Lanka were also introduced during the session. Participants were also familiarised with the Oolong Tea, which is a mixture of Green Tea and Black Tea and the White Tea, which is considered the most delicate one of all.

During the workshop, Snigdha guided us through the process of making tea, starting from hand plucking of the tea and withering process to the rolling of the leaves and the fermentation, which decides which type of tea it will result into, black tea or green tea. The last part of the process is the firing of the tea where it is roasted or baked.

She also gave important tips on making and drinking tea. Avoid opting for tea bags, drink tea at room temperature and avoid adding milk or sugar to the tea, she advised. She also said that one should add water to the tea, rather than adding the tea to boiling water. "Discovery of tea was actually meant for medicinal purposes. And it's time we go back to the olden days and realise the health benefits of tea," she concludes.
If you want to learn about teas, you can take part in the tea appreciation workshops, which are being held through the week.

At Phoenix Market City, Viman Nagar.