Golden Needles, a high-grade Chinese black variety produced by Donyi Polo garden of Arunachal Pradesh, fetched the highest price of Rs 18,801 in auctions in the country at the Guwahati Tea Auction Centre.
The tea was offered for the first time in a tea auction in the country and was bought by Guwahati-based Vincent Enterprises LLP for its buyer M/S Prem International, owned by Anju Sarda. The earlier record was of Rs 18,000 in 2003 by Makaibari garden for its silver tips (Imperial) tea at Calcutta Auctions.
M/S Prem International is into corporate supplies of speciality teas. The total quantity sold was 2.5kg at sale 45 by Contemporary Brokers.
The golden needles tea originates from Yunnan province of China. It shines like gold, is handrolled and allowed to oxidise for two to three hours and then dried in a tray. It has a sweet, fruity note and caramelised taste, denoting rich autumnal character.
Priyanuj Dutta, the secretary of the Guwahati Tea Auction Centre, said this is a new national record. "This is a great day for the GTAC and will encourage producers to send their best teas here," he said to media personnel.