Small tea growers in India voice concern over poor-quality teas flooding the market

Kolkata, Mar 20 (PTI) Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers’ Associations (CISTA), a body of small tea growers, has voiced concern over the alleged poor quality of teas flooding the market and urged the intervention of the Tea Board in this regard. In a letter written to Tea Board chairman A S Bhatia, CISTA president Bijoy Gopal Chakraborty said that a generic campaign focussed on the health benefits of drinking tea should be carried out to promote consumption among the young people who are more enticed to partake soft drinks and coffee. CISTA said that the commerce ministry has enhanced the budget for a generic campaign of tea which is the need of the hour. “Young people in the age group of 18 years to 22 years are far away from tea drinking and have more affinity for soft drinks and coffee. A focussed generic campaign highlighting the health benefits of tea drinking is needed to increase per capita domestic consumption of the beverage”, the letter said. The association, in ...