Taste of East India brewing in Feilding
By GRANT MILLER - Manawatu Standard | Wednesday, 22 August 2007
ROBERT CHARLES/Manawatu Standard
A GOOD CUPPA: Rinu Varghese at the East India Tea House in Feilding.
The East India Tea House in Feilding has been open about two months and word of
it is getting around town. If you want real tea, you will find it at 106
Fergusson Street - that's where The New Zealand Tea Company is based. The
company imports tea from India and Sri Lanka. Soon it will add tea from China to
its range. Rinu Varghese, who is Indian, is a congenial host.
He took a course in tea-tasting in India and it's apparent he knows his stuff.
He opens various tins and explains the contents of each one, inviting his
visitors to take in the aroma. Packets containing 100 grams of tea range in
price from $3 to $32. Estate Tea is the brand "mainly because we know exactly
which garden or estate most of the tea has come from".
The company's sales pitch is straightforward: Most tea available in New Zealand
is third and fourth grade. Most tea available from the East India Tea House is
first or second grade. He describes tea bags as containing "mainly dust".
"It has been extremely difficult to buy high-quality tea in New Zealand over the
past 60 years," he says.
"In cafes and restaurants in New Zealand it has been even more difficult to get
a decent cup of tea.
"Often you are offered a cup of hot water with an old tea bag on the saucer. If
you are lucky they put the single tea bag into a large pot of hot water. Then
you pay the same as for a quality cup of coffee (where) they put some time and
effort into making."
It seems tourist towns like Ohakune understand this. Mr Varghese says that
businesses dealing with overseas visitors are keen to get a good supply of tea.
"Most of the tea is fresh, unblended and unflavoured," he says.
"Often the tea is less than a week old when it leaves India and Sri Lanka for
New Zealand. Some comes by sea cargo and the more-expensive ones are flown in.
"The tea is packaged in Feilding, usually in front of the customer." Most tea
brands in New Zealand are packaged in Sri Lanka, he says, where there is cheap
labour and packaging costs. A recent arrival to New Zealand, Mr Varghese says he
knew of this country years ago, but didn't know where it was.
"The New Zealand cricket team I knew, back in school. "My all-time favourite was
Martin Crowe. He was a good captain." This is the third time Mr Varghese has
been to New Zealand. He first arrived as a backpacker in June last year. The
second time he looked for a shop in which to operate from in Wanganui.
Originally, the idea was to open a cafe and tea shop in Wanganui, then a second
shop in Manawatu.
The company had difficulty finding a place there, so reversed the plan and set
up in an old Chinese restaurant in Feilding. There are still plans to open up in
Wanganui.
The shop's teas range in price from the $32 Rohini White Tea - an aromatic tea
from Darjeeling, where baby buds in the field mature into silvery green needles
- to the $3 Barborooah - a tea with good strength and body from Assam, the
oldest tea company in India.
How to make a decent tea:
1 Boil the water. 2 Warm the tea pot. 3 Put one teaspoon of Estate Tea per
person into the pot or infuser. 4 Pour boiling water into the pot, covering the
tea leaves. 5 Leave for three-to-five minutes, according to taste. 6 Add milk
and/or sugar or leave black. 7 Enjoy your healthy, delicious and tasty cup of
real leaf tea.
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