Golden Tips Tea, a premium home-grown tea brand with a heritage of more than 80 years

Golden Tips Tea comes with a heritage of over eight decades and four generations of tea entrepreneurship. The company offers an extensive range of teas in terms of varieties and styles. Following the ‘Direct from Plantation + Auction model’, the expertise of Golden Tips lies in sourcing, sampling, choosing, packaging and marketing the finest single-origin teas, tea blends, infusions and at the correct prices for a cross-section of tea drinkers.

Golden Tips Tea has a strong presence in Darjeeling & Sikkim and its famed Tea Boutiques are very popular amongst tourists and visitors, especially during the peak holiday season. Apart from the domestic market, the company has dedicated customers across the globe and has shipped Golden Tips teas to almost 90 countries at some point of time in the last several years through its website & online channels. Golden Tips also has exclusive representations in Russia, Japan, Mongolia, Nepal, Bhutan and now China through Distributors.

Speaking about the journey Madhav Sarda, expert tea taster and managing director of Golden Tips Tea, said, “The journey has been an interesting one over these decades. The tea industry has evolved over the years, with technological advances positively impacting the tea supply chain. Over the years, I have faced many challenges and more recently, the pandemic has impacted the tea business adversely. However, I see these challenges as stepping stones towards fulfilling the larger objectives of Golden Tips.”

As the Covid-19 pandemic transformed many businesses and pushed them towards digitization, Golden Tips Tea is also not an exception. The company is also selling its products through its website (www.goldentipstea.com) apart from online marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart, etc. Sarda explained, “Digitization is the new normal post-pandemic. Brands that had imbibed this space in the near past are doing well as customers are increasingly looking to buy products online. We are tapping this space through our social media push, digital advertisements and influencer marketing.”

Competition and challenges

According to Sarda, the Tea market in India has gone through a sea change since he started his journey. “The advent of several new brands and start-ups have left customers spoilt for choices. Golden Tips has a heritage of more than eight decades with exemplary customer loyalty. We as a brand are creating our niche further by embracing technology, introducing new products, procuring the finest teas and innovative packaging.”

He also explained the challenges faced by the tea industry over the years. “For Darjeeling in particular - political agitations, climate change and now the pandemic - resulting in the closure of offline stores and the several months of subsequent & prolonged slump thereafter have been some of the impediments we have faced.”

Expansion

Golden Tips Tea presently operates mainly through its retail chains (14+ stores across Eastern India), Omni-Channel route pan India and its eCommerce enabled website. The company has also recently opened its flagship Tea Boutique & Tea Café and Restaurant “Teattoria” in Darjeeling, where lip-smacking Italian/ Continental and Oriental /cuisine with Japanese fare are served along with its range of Specialty Teas. “We now plan to expand our footprint through our offline and physical retail operations across metros in India by opening niche experiential Tea Boutiques and stores. We are exploring this route and are looking forward to commissioning a few outlets once the current wave of the pandemic subsides,” he concluded.