I was always interested to know, what types of tea people like in
Calcutta. I start visiting local retail tea shops. Got the answer just
after visiting couple of retail tea stores. Then I confirmed with the
sellers and vendors.

People from Calcutta are fond of Indian tea. They like strong liqueur
with flowery Darjeeling aroma. They love both tastes in one cup. So
when they buy fresh loose tea(Off course- they ask the retailers to
blend Darjeeling and Assam CTC together. It is so fascinating to
observes live blending. I have taken many pictures of it. I have also
learned about blending without tasting the liqueur. This people are
working long time and somehow understand individuals taste. Sometimes
they put more Assam then Darjeeling or vise versa. They never use
creamer with tea, always boiled milk or with out milk. I think East
Friesian blend is nothing compares with this blend.

TATA is one of the most old and famous tea company in India( Tetley is
also owned by TATA group). TATA also owned a wide areas of Assam tea
estate. This company always cares about local taste. Two years ago
their brand Premium Perfect Pattiyan (Assam CTC) was the most favorite
regular tea. I bought this tea 750 gm. This company recently realized
the blending habit of Indian tea lovers. After a very careful market
research with seven different blends they launched their recent brand
TATA Gold (85% CTC and 15% long leaves). This is now a very popular
tea all around India. I also bought 500 gm. of this excellent tea.

Few Indian people drink Green tea. Most of them never heard of white
tea. India produces little amount of white tea for export market. They
take advance order then go for white tea production. Some people know
about Nilgiri tea both of Dunsandle and Thiashola. It's very rare who
knows about Sikkim, Dooars, Orissa Bhuyanpirh, Kangra Himalayan tea ,
also rare who ever heard of Darjeeling Oolong.

Dooars green tea- Sukna Hysen is a wonderful green tea. I didn't like
Assam green tea Sukna Mongra 1 that much. Maybe I need to try couple
more times. Overall only for health reason local people drink some
green tea, not for the taste. The true tea taste in India is- black
tea: strong, flowery aroma with boiled milk and sugar.

By the way, this is also the taste people like in Bangladesh.

Ripon
(Dhaka, Bangladesh)