This Speciality Tea Business Has an Ambitious Growth Plan In an interview with Restaurant India, Managing Director of Teamonk Global, Ashok Mittal says the company aims to reach over 150-crore gross revenue in next four years

As a passionate 'tea man', Managing Director of Teamonk Global, Ashok Mittal has spent nearly four decades in the fascinating world of teas. Currently, he is heading a company born out of his passion for teas – Teamonk Global.

Teamonk Global is a speciality tea portal, driven by a single-minded vision of offering the finest teas to the consumers across the world. It offers teas from the choicest tea gardens both through e-commerce platforms and selected retail outlets.

Managing Director of Teamonk Global, Ashok Mittal, started his career with Lipton as a management trainee in the tea division, having spent 15 years in perfecting the art of tea tasting, buying, blending, quality control with good understanding of the tea manufacturing process and heading tea-buying units in Siliguri, Guwahati, Kolkata and South India. After 22 years of association with Lipton, Brooke Bond India, Ashok Mittal seconded Unilever Indonesia to head their domestic tea operations. Since 2012, Ashok Mittal is associated with Mohani Tea, the largest tea company in North India, as a consultant VP and has helped the Group in sustainable growth.

In an interview with Restaurant India, Managing Director of Teamonk Global, Ashok Mittal speaks about the growth of the tea industry in India.

Story Behind TeaMonk Global

Teamonk is a speciality tea venture, focused on high end, premium green, oolong, white and black teas, specially curated by the experts, catering to the tea connoisseurs and tea lovers. These are pure and natural teas with natural ingredients to enhance the taste (green teas) and we do not use any flavour, essence or oil in our products. Our supply chain and customer service is world class and we deliver freshest teas to our discerning consumers.

Also Read: What's Your Favourite Cup Of Tea

Contribution to the HoReCa Segment

We are in the process of introducing our brand in the institutions, cafes, resorts and big hotels and expect to develop it as a significant channel in near future.

Popular Misconceptions about Brewing, Drinking or Cooking with Tea

Tea was always meant to be brewed to enjoy its natural taste and flavour. Unfortunately, in South-Asian countries, people started using tea more as a dessert or filler in between meals for energy which led to excessive use of milk and sugar in the tea with boiling to thicken the beverage. The tea character has been diluted significantly over the decades. In order to enjoy tea with its natural character, it is important that it is always brewed and very little milk and sugar are added to ensure the tea character is not diluted.

Tea Industry in India and Its Growth

The tea industry is gradually evolving towards healthier and non-conventional teas as the younger generation is far more health conscious and realizes the harmful effects of excessive milk and sugar consumption in the beverage. Green and other speciality teas are growing significantly and will continue to grow with the increase in health awareness.

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Health and Wellness an Integral Part of Food and Beverage Industry

Health and wellness is an integral part of the F&B (food and beverage) industry. People are making a conscious choice of going for brown eggs, fibre bread, non-carbonated beverages, organic foods, green vegetables, etc.

Therefore, it is quite natural that any food or drink, perceived to be healthier will find favour with the younger generation. It is a natural healthy drink compared to any other beverage and, therefore, we do see tea, particularly green ones becoming far more popular in future.

Foods That Pair Best with a Cup of Tea

Any food which is lighter, not oily or deep-fried will be a good pair with tea. However, any food consumption should always be with green tea rather than milk and sugar or black tea as that will cause acidity and also affects digestion, especially, due to the boiling method used at most Indian households.

The Scope of Indian Tea brands Abroad

India offers the maximum variety of the beverage compared to any other tea-growing country - Darjeeling, Assam, Nilgiris, Himachal and North Bengal region (Dooars) with each region offering different taste experience, character, seasonal variation, etc. There is a huge opportunity for Indian tea brands to be established in overseas markets but this requires sustained support from the Indian Government and the industry.

Expansion Plans with Teamonk Global

Teamonk has an ambitious growth plan to reach over 150-crore gross revenue in the next four years, sticking to our core values of pure and natural, healthy and exotic tasting teas to delight tea lovers.

This article was originally published by Nusra.