Guwahati, December 29
The tiny tea tablet developed by scientists in Tocklai Experimental Station (TES) of the Tea Research Association (TRA), located amid lush green tea gardens in Jorhat in Upper Assam, may soon become an alternative for the age-old tea bag, a favourite with tea drinkers all over the world, if a refined version of the pill hits the market.
Tea tablets can be chewed or added to a cup of hot water for a cup of tea. Chewing a tablet will freshen and cheer up a person with nearly the same effect as having a hot cup of brewed tea.
“The tea tablet is something that you will be able to drink normally or put on your tongue as you go into work and it will freshen you up for the day ahead, just like a real cup does,” said Mridul Hazarika, director of the TES.
The tea pill is one of the innovations of the TES in Jorhat, the oldest and the largest research station of its kind in the world. Since its inception in 1911, TES has become synonymous with the research on tea. Its scientists have developed many technologies for boosting the tea production especially in the Northeast India.
“Tocklai is gearing up for centenary celebrations from next year and it has been a challenge for Tocklai, TRA to contribute something for the benefit of the industry during the centenary year,” Hazarika said.
Eight research departments in the TES - botany, soil, agronomy, plant protection, biochemistry, engineering and manufacturing technology, statistics and agricultural economics and tea tasting - have carried many research projects, besides providing services like soil analysis, testing of agrochemical, identification of pests and disease samples, supply of elite planting materials.
Some of major contributions of the TES to the tea industry include technique for vegetative propagation of tea by inter-nodal cuttings, development of 30 high-yielding and better quality clones and l4 hybrid seeds, selecting 154 region specific clones.TES also takes up collaborative projects with some leading research institutes of the country, which include making tea manufacture a continuous process by an integrated monitoring system, studies
on the pharmacological, physiological and medicinal values of tea, tissue culture.
“In our Plant Improvement Division, quality planting materials have been explored and a few of them will be released to the industry. The improvement of plant material
alone will help in the improvement of tea quality to a great extent,” the director said.
The TES chemists’ are now focused on reduction of the chemical load in tea in view of growing concern in among global tea consuming community over level of pesticides residue in Indian tea. Some of the countries have enforced stringent regulations on Maximum Residue Level (MRL).
