Kolkata, Aug 4 (PTI) Luxmi Tea Company, which owns the iconic Makaibari estate in Darjeeling, has been pushing sales of exotic blends through online channel, a company official said on Tuesday.

The company owns 22 gardens in India and Rwanda.

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"Since the start of the pandemic, we have started pushing sales of exotic blends through online channel," Luxmi Tea Managing Director Rudra Chatterjee said.

He said that buyers can order varieties such as Queen Elizabeth blend, Tokyo blend and Gordon Smith blend sitting at home.

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"Customers from France, US, Russia, UK and India are buying and the tea is couriered to them the next day they are plucked," he said.

He said that the company is getting around 50 to 100 orders per day.

Regarding Makaibari, he said that the lockdown had practically wiped out the first and second flush this year.

Makaibari had fetched the highest price in the history of Darjeeling second flush at USD 1,850 per kilogram in 2014.

"We are not expecting to fetch any exorbitant price for Makaibari tea this year," he added.

Tea gardens of Darjeeling produce almost eight million kg of orthodox tea and the first flush roughly constitutes 20 per cent of the total yield.

Production loss in Makaibari estate is likely to be around 25 per cent this year, he said.

The company's annual production is around 25 million kilograms and the shortfall this year will be nearly 15 per cent, he said. PTI dc

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)