Our Background
An all Women Workforce
Committed to women empowerment, our tiny workforce of 8, headed by Muskan, are a dedicated team of young women from the neighbouring village. Young women with very little on the horizon other than marriage for dowry and no higher educational prospects, nor any opportunity to have an adult life of their own. The fact that these ladies are all ‘local’ also helped with us being readily accepted in this somewhat remote region by the villagers.
As the ‘backbone’ of the Studio In a region where women remain uneducated and have very little opportunity, taking immense pride in their work, our women have developed
skills and artisanal sensitivity which set them apart.
Location
We are located bang smack in the heart of tea country, close to Coonoor in the stunning Nilgiri mountains of the Western Ghats in the State of Tamil Nadu.
Perched at 1850m above sea level, the Studio overlooks a pristine and peaceful valley, befittingly surrounded by smallholder tea fields.
Building
Aiming for ultimate functionality and low build-impact, the shell was designed by a fresh out of architectural school youngster who had been given a one-line brief - “just think out of the box”. He delivered.
For us to end up with a structure which is striking.
LPG & Solar
Adhering staunchly to sustainable green practices, having pioneered the use of non-polluting LPG as our heating fuel, this has been followed up by the installation of a solar power plant which takes care of the Studio’s entire electricity requirements.
The Tea Studio takes pride in being a non-polluting, 100% sustainable and environmentally friendly unit.
The Leaf
The Studio is located in a valley dotted with ‘small farmer’ tea fields. All very poorly maintained, from which leaf of questionable quality is sold to tea factories in abysmal condition, ending up as low-quality CTC teas.
With a view to make it more inclusive, we turned to the families of the ladies who work in the Studio. With them being receptive to our proposal, we went through an exhausting six-month long exercise of revitalizing their fields, training the family members to harvest the quality of leaf require for our teas. In parallel to the training, the families being offered more than ten times the normal price for their produce, they were incentivised to supply only - carefully plucked one leaf and a bud.
Now, at the end of each day, smiling ear to ear, proud of the quality of their leaf, OUR farmers arrive at the door of the Studio with their day’s harvest. Delivered to the Studio fresh and undamaged.
Naturally Organic
The icing on the cake is that the leaf emanating from the tiny, almost miniscule ‘garden plots’ have NEVER been ‘tainted’ with any pesticides or chemicals and so is naturally organic. The leaf and the resultant teas having been tested time and again, confirm that the teas are fully compliant to stringent EU pesticide residue norms. Which reiterates our claim of Naturally Organic.
The Team
Indi Khanna
An ongoing love story, still being written, Tea has been a passion and an integral part of Indi’s life for 50 years. Hands on experience in every single aspect related to tea, from the tea nursery and field management, leading into manufacture and the art of blending, has been extended further into international trade. All put together makes Indi a unique, one-of-a-kind individual in the industry.
Well known for his optimism and forceful character, Indi has been an innovative force in the Nilgiris where he has pioneered the manufacture of Chinese style artisanal teas, with all the knowledge and experience in his ongoing journey being encapsulated into his dream project – the Tea Studio
Camellia Sinensis
Is a team of four professional tea-tasters, each specializing in a different tea-growing region in countries across the globe. Involved in many aspects of the industry including research, education, publication, consultation and trade development. Based and operating from Montreal (Canada) the team of four are the owners of Camellia Sinensis, arguably the finest specialty tea purveyors in North America, within the tea
industry being recognised as such.
Les Jardins deGaïa
Based in the Alsace region of France, it was in 1994 that Arlette Rohmer launched her tea company Les Jardins de Gaïa (the Garden of the Goddess of the Earth). Having pioneered and introduced both organic and Fairtrade tea in France, she has developed a vibrant community centred around these initial values, offering possibly the largest range of Fairtrade and organic teas, infusions, and spices in Europe. Arlette’s ‘child’ is now a fiercely independent company of 75 employees who oversee every stage of production from import to sales.
The range of artisanal teas produced in the Tea Studio being totally in sync with the crafting of Gaia’s original recipes,the partnership between the two has been seamless, almost as though ordained.
Oxalis
Petr Zelik has been in love with and totally immersed in tea from well before he founded his company Oxalis in 1993. Located in Slušovice, a pristine rural prefecture of the Czech Republic, the company has been importing and processing loose-leaf teas from major tea producing countries around the World. With an experience of 3 decades of tasting and buying quality teas from prime tea gardens of India, China, Japan, Korea and Sri Lanka, in Petr’s own words, his joining hands with Indi to partner in the Tea Studio was the most natural progression, cementing the long relationship which both share.
With 35 company owned tea stores spread across the length and breadth of the Czech Republic being serviced from the processing plant in Slušovice, Oxalis is an established major player in the tea industry in Europe.
Muskan Khanna
Setting aside her promising career in advertising after earning a degree in Media Studies from the University of Birmingham, in 2012 Muskan took the plunge, blindly diving headlong into the world of Tea, taking to the industry literally like a fish to water. Slowly but surely and with a single-minded purpose, while taking over the baton from her father and absorbing his vast experience, she has effectively leveraged that knowledge to produce some very innovative teas. The proof of the pudding being the 20-year patent (a first in the industry) which Muskan has been granted for the inventive Nilgiri Bamboo Green tea.
A rarity in the male dominated trade, within the tea industry Muskan never flags in her efforts to continuously raise the bar higher.