Master tea blender Razi Khan informs Saimi Sattar that there is more to the brew than just dunking leaves in boiling hot water
A good cup ofchai is what kickstarts the day for most Indians. But what if someone told you that your ‘kind’ of tea was only one of the 50-70 varietals if not 100 different leaves. Razi Khan, master tea blender with a leading tea pouch label, took people on a journey, which not only spoke about what makes tea special but also the different varieties, variations as well as the correct way to brew it.
Said Khan, “In India, I realise, people are not brewing it right and often, they blame the brand.” Khan gave out the perfect timing as well as the temperatures for different teas. “For green teas, the temperature should be around 70-80 degrees and it should be brewed for two minutes when you get a light green hue. For black tea, on the other hand, the temperature needs to be 100 degrees and if you add milk, it should be brewed for five minutes and without milk, for three minutes.”
You needn’t do anything complicated or buy fancy equipment to get the temperatures right. For 100 degrees, just add leaves immediately after the water boils. For temperatures like 70-80 degrees, cool the water for a minute and voila, you are good to go.
At a tea-brewing session, Khan was quick to hand out pointers. As one sipped into Assam tea, he directed attention to its “nutty, crisp and fresh taste.” Khan, who drinks mint tea, which is good for stomach and digestion post dinner, said, “It is fresh and minty. Rather than eating gum before a meeting, I drink mint for fresh breath.” His company is launching a mint tea with three different hints — peppermint, spearmint and feel mint, in fuso-pyramid bags, which are used for premium teas as they combine the convenience of a tea bag and the quality of loose tea.
As a tea blender, Khan has at least 20 cups of tea in a day — each one a speciality and each cup different. “But if I don’t spoil myself then how do I spoil youIJ Even at my office, people try to impress me with all top teas because they know I like to enjoy new ones,” he told us.
Khan starts the day with making a nice cup of tea for his wife. “She is a big time tea-drinker now. The first cup is usually single origin that I have taken a day before from my office. Now she has also become used to expecting something different and interesting every day,” he said.
During the rest of the day too, speciality teas follow. “In office, as soon as I enter, I have a single origin from one of our gardens. This is loose leaf, unorthodox tea. Every hour one different tea keeps coming in. From noon to 1 pm, I have green teas and post that mints, ginger or different roots. I have matcha in the evening before my workout and at night, fennel and mints,” he said.
There was more education in store for the guests. Razi pointed out, “Our largest selling tea, Orange Spicer, is an infusion. There is no caffeine in this tea. Anything that you can brew is called tea now.” Orange spicer, like many of the infusions, can be had hot or cold.
But Khan did not acquire the knowledge overnight. He started young and gradually accumulated the details as well as the expertise to become a master tea blender over years. “It is a journey,” he said emphatically. From a farming background, Khan’s father had mango orchards in Pratapgarh, Rae Bareilly. Fond of cricket, he was a part of the under-16 Uttar Pradesh team, but could not pursue his passion as his father put a spanner in the plans. later, on an errand to deliver mangoes to his cousin, who was into tea planting in Assam, he was introduced to the brew. “At a tea tournament I did very well and the adviser asked me if I wanted to join the tea business. I told him and my cousin that it looked nice from the outside,” he confessed. Khan was in his second year of graduation and once he finished college, he jumped into the profession.
Khan began his career in 1999 with Williamson Magors Tea Company in India, learning planting and manufacturing of tea. He relocated to Kolkata in 2001 and joined Carritt Moran & Company Pvt ltd who were the second largest tea brokers in India. “I enhanced my tea-tasting skills for five years till the time I got bored and joined Harris Freeman, a US-based company. They took me around the world and I learnt a lot of things like flavours, herbs, pairing herbs for benefits and not just black tea.”
He joined Typhoo in 2010 and started to develop recipes with the knowledge that he had gained. “I started working on pairing and herbs as there is a big gap in functional teas.”
But the job does not end just there. “The quality of tea depends on the season and it is not the same throughout the year. There are some months like October onwards when it dips in both quality and quantity. From December to February, tea gardens are shut when pruning and cutting of bushes takes place.” A blender tries to ensure that a similar quality is maintained throughout the year and that is a very complex job. “How I blend eight-ten gardens or in international terms how I blend seven-eight countries to give you the perfect cup is a complex job unlike coffee, where it is simpler,” he added.
Tea has different varieties where some come with colour, others with maltiness, some with thickness and some with body. But if you think that all that a tea blender needs is a palate and a sense of smell, you are mistaken. “One needs to be curious about what is going on in the cafe business and the juice industry. Also if you follow flavours in speciality tea, then you should be clued in to what flavours are trending today. For instance, I can anticipate that elder flower will be coming to India soon and it can be paired with herbs for health and wellness.”
