If you do a deeper market study of Tea in Canada, there are around 2200 tea sellers ranging from small to big. In a country with around 40 million people, the number of tea sellers seems to be reasonable. That also means that there are enough tea sellers in this country.
The competition is fierce. Huge number of tea companies currently trending have raised funds from private investors and they are bombarding your social media in every 30 seconds with ads. So, why start another company to sell tea? That is the question some of my friends and acquaintances ask me.
To understand the reason behind the establishment of "Nepal Hills Tea", I would like you to understand the current situation of "Nepali Tea" Industry. Although, tea industry in Nepal started around the same time as tea in Darjeeling and Assam in India, it was not promoted for a long period of time. Some 75 years ago, commercial production of tea started in Nepal but most of that tea was processed as CTC (Crush tear Curl).
Around the Mid 1970's, there was a shift towards Orthodox tea (loose leaf tea) production. Those entrepreneurs who had access to funds and had some connections with the buyers started estates. In the time span of 20-25 years those who had the head start were able to create umbrella organizations, lobby with the government, apply for international funding, attend trade shows and secure international buyers around the globe.
Around late 1980's, small farmers saw this tea farming as a lucrative trade because their traditional cash crops like Ginger, Black Cardamom were failing them. The market was too unstable. Thousands of them decided to venture into the tea farming.
This swarm of new cultivators created a huge boost in tea leaf production, but they faced another challenge; whom to sell these teas? Some farmers exported the raw tea leaves to India (Okaity, Sourenee Tea Factories) on horses and using human labor, some resorted to sell to the bigger factories.
In early 2000's the production surpassed the processing capacity and there came days where the farmers were forced to pluck the tea and throw them away. An eclipse lurking over their dreams.
While bigger estates where busy certifying their farms as organic, lobbying with government agencies and their trading counterparts, creating other subsidiary companies to export teas, small farm holders were collectively working together to build small scale tea factories.
Since early 2000's till date, there are now around 120 orthodox (loose leaf) producing factories in Nepal, most of them supported by small farmers.
Great! Farmers have farms and factories, right? No! Without proper buyers a commodity has no value. That is the flip side of this story. Most of these small artisans now don't have buyers for their teas.
Unlike in India, where the government has taken the tea sector under their wing, in Nepal, only a handful of producers are protected who claim to be the whole Nepali tea Industry. The narrative that you have been told is as clear as muddy water.
Reputable business man and politicians are being portrayed as farmers, and actual farmers have been portrayed as hungry and poor people and companies are building wealth in their name. Why not right?- the market loves the stories!
Okay, if you have read this far, you probably have a question: Nepali Teas are being showcased by so many tea companies in Canada, why do you want to do it?
Good question: The fact is most of the small and mid scale factories produce a range of volume from 3000-30,000 Kg of Tea in a year. Say 10 companies buy 50 kilo tea from each factory, the factory sells 500 kilo of tea at a ballpark of $15-20/Kg. The consumer ends up paying $300+ in retail here. Now what about the 2500-29,500 Kg of tea that the artisan produces? That still goes to India via brokers and is blended with Darjeeling teas and sold as Darjeeling Tea.
We all know how much people love Darjeeling Tea and I have already narrated above that 50% of what people think Darjeeling teas are actually Nepali Teas, so we at "Nepal Hills Tea", want to eliminate the situation where the artisans have to sell to brokers at cheap price and consumers have to pay 20 folds the cost. We want the tea lovers to be able to drink great and affordable teas from Nepal so that our artisans can run profitable businesses and our farmers can be paid generously.
Any tea company which are established just with the motive of selling teas cannot do what we intend to do. They don't have any affinity towards those artisans and the farmers. Actually they don't have responsibility or duty towards them, but for us at "Nepal Hills Tea", we do!
We also have duty towards our customers to bring you quality and healthy teas at affordable cost. Combine the both duties together, comes the reason behind starting- 'Nepal Hills Tea".
Without your support this dream cannot be achieved! Kindly support us by sharing our information, buying our products and our vision with people you know so that we can share the love of Nepal Tea with all of you!
Much Love!
Bhaskar Dahal
2nd Gen Tea Entrepreneur
Founder and C.E.O, Nepal Hills Tea Inc.
