14 August,2013 09:19 AM IST | | Hassan M Kamal
If Vada Pav is the city's soul-food, chai is the magic potion that energises many a tired souls. From an urban dweller on a midnight stroll, or the tired office folk, stopping by for a sip of Garam Chai, from a sleepy rickshaw and taxi driver to a policemen guarding the roads or the city's student-folks, every Mumbaikar has its own favourite tea stop, for some more than one. Now is the time to bring that place to prominence. Mid Day is inviting applications for Mumbai Tea Trail, a citywide competition to select Mumbai's best tea stop.
Who can apply?
It doesn't matter whether you are a tea stop owner or customer, if you think the tea you drink or sell has got what it takes to be best tea in the city then send in your entries latest by August 20. All you got to do is register on our website www.mid-day.com and mail a picture of the tea stop to mumbaiteatrail@mid-day.com. The competition is open to all tea stops within Mumbai district, irrespective of whether it's a posh restaurant, small stall on the footpath, a cyclewallah selling tea post midnight or an office canteen. The only criteria is the tea has to be good.
The judging process
Post the last date of entry, we will select the final 10 through anonymous visits. The final 10 will be open to our readers for voting through our website www.mid-day.com, wherein readers would vote for the best tea spot in the city. The maximum number of votes will help us select the winner.
During the voting process, users can use Facebook and Twitter to promote their favourite tea stops.
NOTE: Only chaiwallahs within Mumbai district can participate in this challenge.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE?
STEP1: Take a picture of the tea stop
STEP 2: Log on to www.mid-day.com/mumbaiteatrail
STEP 3: Mail the picture to mumbaiteatrail@mid-day.com
STEP: Fill the registration form with address of the tea stop, tea type, time of availability, contact number and a maximum 100 word write-up on why you think the tea is the best tea in the city.
STEP 4: Read the terms and conditions and select I agree to apply.
NOTE: Address is not applicable for bicycle chaiwallahs, but a location point would help.
Did you know?
Englishman Richard Blechynden created iced tea during a heat wave at the St Louis World Fair, Missouri, US in 1904.
Tea caused American Revolution
Tea was a major trading item in the Pre-World War era between 17th to 19th century. The monopopy of tea trade by East India Company and high prices led to notorious incidents like the Boston Tea Party, wherein a group of American colonists disguised as Native Americans boarded an East India Company ship and unloaded hundreds of chests of tea into the Boston harbour. The high taxes on tea imports where one of the reasons behind the American Revolution. u00a0
