Assam's Manohari gold tea fetches record auction price of Rs 1.15 lakh per kg

Breaking all records, the famous and rare Manohari gold tea, grown in an estate in eastern Assam's Dibrugarh district recently fetched Rs 1.15 lakh per kilogram at a private auction.

The handmade tea was bought by RK Tea Sales for its clients Cafe Nilofer of Hyderabad and other places.

Manohari gold tea is produced from P-126, the finest tea clones and the leaves are picked in the early morning (between 4 am and 6 am) to prevent the Sun from altering its distinct aroma and flavour, director of Manohari Tea Estate, Rajan Lohia told DH. The tea is plucked during the second flush (early summer), he said.

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In December 2021, the Manohari gold set a record by fetching Rs 99,999 per kg at the Guwahati Tea Auction Centre. "But due to the cap of Rs 1 lakh put by the Tea Board of India on auction price in government-run auctions, we had to sell it through a private e-auction, Tea Inntech this time. It is really heartening to see that this could break all previous records of tea prices in the industry," Lohia said.

"It looks like 24 carat gold and is a healthy beverage. It is loaded with antioxidants and nutrients that have powerful effects on the body and many other benefits," he said.

With over 850 big tea gardens, Assam is the world's largest tea growing region and contributes over 52 per cent of total tea production in the country. But stagnant prices since 2014, adverse climatic conditions and increase in production cost has left the industry players into a crisis. This has led many estates to prepare specialty tea in order to fetch better prices, cater to the premium customers and for branding.