India to hold first-ever online auction for its most expensive tea this month

Since the last century, Darjeeling tea -- the priciest variety of Indian tea -- has been sold only in private auctions. This month, it switches to online bidding for the first time, making it possible for buyers to bid for the the premier tea. 

Often described as the "champagne of teas", the Darjeeling tea is prized for its aroma. Like French wines, it is only grown in tea estates centered around a small mountainous region in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, which has the perfect soil and climate. Tea leaves are hand-picked, processed, tested and certified by tasters, before being exported to connoisseurs around the world. 

The cultivation of the tea is labour-intensive with the leaves being hand-plucked by women employed at the tea estate. Credit: Jonas Gratzer/LightRocket/Getty Images)

The lavish private auctions for Darjeeling tea involve elaborate tasting sessions. Around 2.8 million kg of Darjeeling tea is sold annually, with the finest teas fetching astronomical prices from international buyers. In 2014, Darjeeling tea from the Makaibari estate fetched a price of Rs 1,12,000 ($1,850), the highest for any Indian tea.

Different varieties of Darjeeling tea. Credit: Jonas Gratzer/LightRocket/Getty Images)

This is set to changes, as the tea will now be sold in pan-Indian e-auctions to fetch better prices, more buyers and ensure greater transparency. "The new system will allow a registered buyer or seller of tea with any one of the seven auction centres to seamlessly participate in other auction centres," Union Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia said. Buyers will have to be registered with one of these seven auction centres to be able to bid. The e-auctions are scheduled to start in the last week of June.

The second-largest producer in the world after China, India started online bidding of cheaper varieties of teas in 2008. "The new system could prove to be a turning point for tea auctioning in India, which began in 1861 in this city,” Teaotia said.

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