Nestle SA, the Swiss multinational, is marketing in Europe and Japan the black first flush Darjeeling tea from Jungpana, an organic garden in Kurseong, West Bengal.
Tea from Jungpana, which Nestle calls “the paradise of great teas”, is marketed under the recently created global marketing brand Special.T. This is the second year when Nestle, in a special drive, has rolled out the Jungpana tea. Nestle has created an exclusive section called T.Ceremony for introducing the first or spring flush tea of the garden. Nestle has also made a 3-minute video on the garden and the product. Santanu Kejriwal, owner of the tea estate, told BusinessLine that Nestle bought 1,500 kg of spring flush from Jungpana. The garden produces about 10,000 kg of first flush.
“The other three flushes – summer, monsoon and autumn – contribute about another 50, 000 kgs of our total production. We are small, but Nestle plucked us up because we are different,” Kejriwal said.
Nestle now sells a box of 10 capsules of Jungpana for €6.90, which is at a significant premium over other varieties from Africa, Sri Lanka, China and Japan sold under Nestle’s Special.T categories.
The unique branding exercise by Nestle has given Jungpana great mileage, which the Kejriwal plans to utilise gradually in retail marketing in the country.