AusumTea, a new tea brand has fruity and spicy tea blends  

This Bengaluru-based collective has something for everyone
AsusmTea
AsusmTea

Cousins Mayura and Medha Rao were both working as marketing executives, when they realised it wasn’t really their cup of tea, so to speak. They combined their passion for brewed tea with their knowledge of the market to launch AusumTea — a collection of finely crafted green and white teas as well as tisanes (fruit infusions). “We are not about giving you your masala chai fix. Our brand aims to open up a world of exhilarating tea drinking with innovative flavours,” says Medha.


Each tea has two or three different aromas and tastes as they want to create a layered tea drinking experience. We tried their most popular dessert teas — Banana nut bread tea, which is mix of banana, almonds, Middle Eastern date and candied black grape. “We both love banana nut bread but can’t afford 
to eat it every day,” Medha laments, adding, “So we turned that into a fruit infusion with only 0.5 per cent carbohydrate in it. So we can enjoy a slice of cake whenever we want. Sometimes, I even just eat it as a trail mix.”


Some of our other favourites from their blends include Petrichor, a mix of Darjeeling green tea, layered with the toasted  licorice, clove, peppercorn and hints of mint and fennel. The Hot Mango Mess is a mix of sweet and spicy notes with organic first flush white tea, candied mango and chilli. The Spanish Sangria has strawberry, orange, nettle leaf, seabuckthorn, hibiscus and liquorice.


Steeped in innovation
Mayura says the research that went into creating the blends was organic and based on their own experiences, “For example, when we were creating Eastern Zing, we recalled the smells that are associated with China, Vietnam and Thailand from our travels there. Lemongrass is a standout ingredient that’s used in their food, drinks and even spas.” So they took lemongrass as a lead flavour and then worked on building up a recipe that supplements and complements it. 


For ingredients, they didn’t have to look far. All the raw material is from Indian suppliers. “Due to seasonality, flowers grown in Uttarakhand tend to be the hardest to procure. Chamomile and lavender are yearly crops so supply decisions needs to be made at the start of the year to ensure access to it,” Mayura reveals. 


All the tea is sourced from a single estate in Darjeeling. The blends are sugar- and sweetener -free, ethically sourced and certified organic.


Rs. 350 for a sampler box. Details: ausumtea.com
 

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