ABOUT BENOY (Founder Thunderbolt Tea)
Originally from Majhua Tea estate in the Kurseong region, his father along with the rest of the family members, moved to Darjeeling for broader business opportunities. His Great grandfather was a tea laborer in the tea garden and so was his grandfather. Being a great tea lover himself, he decided to venture into the tea business arena since that was the only thing that was passed on to him from generations and what he knew best.

He started in a small way by buying tea in small quantities from the gardens and selling it. Now it is the 6th year running and he says, "Tea is such a business where money does not play a pivotal role, its the inner love for tea which makes it possible." He further adds, "its a complicated business as far as I know, and without proper guidance and practical experience, it would be like a taxi driver trying to fly an airplane. But this does not mean 'impossible', its a business which develops with time and learning."

You can check Benoy's personal 'Darjeeling Cuppa' blog for his everyday day events, tea opinions, etc and interact with him directly by posting comments.

ABOUT BANDHANA (Business Partner)
Born and brought up in Orange Valley tea estate, originally known as Bloomfield Tea estate, Bandhana used to walk 8 km to reach her school and the same distance back home. It sounds unbelievable, but its the truth. Each and every day of her school and college life was spent taking shortcut routes through the tea bushes on hilly slopes. After school she used to reach home exhausted and her mother used to give her a cup of tea. Her mother, Bishnumaya, was a tea plucker and her dad a small grocery store owner.

She comments in her own words, "It was always amazing to me how the tea given to me by my mother, elevated me and gave a sense of relaxation to my body. I used to believe that it must have been due to the magical touch of my mother's hand and yes it was to a certain extent, but later I found out that tea itself is a 'sense elevating beverage'. The magical touch of my mother's hand was the way she prepared the tea - it was the legendary local recipe for making tea."

She later shifted to Darjeeling and for 3 years, worked as a tea supplier for Calcutta and Mumbai based tea merchants. She joined Thunderbolt Tea in the year 2003 and is now actively involved in marketing & sales. She is happily married and has a lovely daughter. She is one who handles the jargon of being a perfect mother and a typical business woman.

OUR HELP AND CHARITY MISSION
Darjeeling produces one of the finest black teas the world has ever seen and is known as “the Champagne of Teas”. Since the processing is done in an orthodox basis and the leaves manually handpicked, the final tea product incurs a lot of expense and hence is quoted as the most expensive tea in the world. Despite of all the big jargons and the price which it fetches in the market, the laborers working in the tea factories face a daunting task to cope up with their daily lives. The wages they receive are not sustainable enough to provide their children basic structural education and hence contribute to the population of illiterates mostly accountable in the tea garden areas. According to the current wage scenario, the laborers receive Rs. 45-50 a day which is equal to US$1, if taken on the average exchange rate. If we calculate their individual monthly income, it comes to US$30 a month (“per month and not per day” – point to be noted). So one can imagine how difficult will it be to run a family with children at dollar 30 a month. We aim and try to help these poor garden children by contributing a certain percentage from the sales towards their education. More info on our Charity and Help Mission

Cautiousness when buying Darjeelings
Thousands of tea merchants worldwide sell Darjeeling Tea and some even claim to be operational from Darjeeling, but we humbly take the initiative to suggest tea connoisseurs to check their contact address, and if possible write to them first, before jumping into any kind of business relationship with them. It is a known fact that 40+ million kg of fake Darjeeling Tea is sold in the world market, when the actual figure produced by Darjeeling tea gardens is only 10 million. So a careful note of cautiousness is needed when buying Darjeelings.