KATHMANDU, Oct 26: A good cup of tea is always the best way to start the day. Some take it black and plain, other like tea with milk and spices. Though there are numerous cafes and coffee lounges catering to the younger generation that crave coffee, Chiyapaan is probably the very first tea lounge in Kathmandu. 

Based in the posh area of Baluwatar, Chiyapaan opened in October 2016 and has already received overwhelming response from its customers. Clientele varying from diplomats, high officials, artists, writers to politicians can all be heard praising the services at Chiyapaan. 

People usually only know about and drink black tea, milk tea and in the recent times, even green tea. But at Chiyapaan, one can get 111 different types of tea, all organic and healthy. Their menu has different categories based on the types of tea and each category gives you 11 further options to choose from. Chiyapaan interestingly has recurring numbers in its price range, when asked why, Chiyapaan’s co-founder Aswini Koirala said, “This is all a part of our rhythmic marketing. Our prices also range from Rs 11 to 1,111. We plan to open 11 outlets around the city within this year and 111 or even 1,111 in the future.”

Tea is one of the products that Nepal exports to international markets. Nepali tea is highly known for its quality and medicinal benefits in the international market. “When I first started, I researched and came to know that about 91 percent of the tea produced here is exported abroad via India, seven percent gets exported directly to international platforms from Nepal and only the remaining gets consumed in Nepal. In fact, the tea exported gets repackaged and is imported in Nepal with double/triple the price.

To change this scenario, Chiyapaan is our effort to increase the tea consumption here and give a higher, better market to the local farmers by educating and advocating the benefits of tea produced in Nepal,” said Aswini sharing his idea for opening Chiyapaan.

“How people around the world take their take can be categorized in three styles-- the Chinese style where they brew the tea leaves in boiling water and take it without sugar, for taste and health; the European style, where they add flavors and take their tea with something to eat; and the Indian style, where they mix spices and flavors to the tea, like the ones we are used to. And in Chiyapaan, we have tried to integrate all three styles with our own twist,” added Aswini.

 “Higher the altitude, better the taste of the tea. Also different parts of the shrub (Camellia Sinensis) result in different tea qualities and tastes. The finest and the top most part of the shrub, called the White Needles, are very good for health and improves brain productivity,” said Keshab Sharma, one of the co-founders of Chiyapaan. Apart from White Needle, few of their popular tea items include Jamara Tea, Hibiscus Tea, Oolang Tea, Mint Tea and Himali Tea, among others.

Almost all the varieties of tea in Chiyapaan comes from their own organic farm in Jasbire of Ilam with some imported from other local tea farmers. “Calling it organic doesn’t mean they are organic, tea leaves needs to be cultivated in a land where no pesticides and insecticides have been induced for at least three years. Plus 90 yards around the cultivating area (buffer zones) should also be free of these harmful chemicals. We have been farming organic farming since 2068. We also take extra care in every step, from plucking to processing and packaging so as to not deplete the tea’s taste,” Chiyapaan’s another co-founder Bimal Dhakal informed.

“Our body is our temple. We need to cherish it. Drinking tea in the right manner will increase one’s body and brain potentials. But most of us add sugar to our tea, which depletes tea’s taste by 50 percent and on top of that others also add milk, which kills tea’s taste by 100 percent. That is not tea, but most of us know tea with sugar and milk and don’t get satisfied unless we have it in the same form,” added Bimal.

He also shared some of the future plans for Chiyapaan including the launch of a Nepali food place in its Baluwatar premises. They also plan to increase number of stores around the city that sell the packaged tea leaves. Like Barista training for coffee, they also plan to start Tearista training to produce more tea experts and counselors in the country. 

Meanwhile, they are continuously lobbying with the government authorities and stakeholders to increase tea consumption and sales within Nepal. They are also holding parallel tea-tasting events and promotion at different events and fairs.