Assam-made pu’er tea fetches ₹12,000 a kilogram at Guwahati auction

Assam-made pu’er tea has fetched ₹12,000 per kilogram at the Guwahati Tea Auction Centre, opening a new commercial avenue for the State’s speciality tea producers. A five-kilogram batch from Gauripur Tea Industry in Golaghat district was sold at the centre on Friday. Assam Tea Traders bought the lot through brokers J.

Thomas & Co. Pvt Ltd. The sale was the second auction of pu’er tea from the producer after a lot was sold at the Jorhat Tea Auction Centre in 2023 for ₹9,000 per kilogram.

The latest transaction therefore marked a higher price for the Assam-made product. Aparaj Saikia of Gauripur Tea Industry said the firm had adapted the Sheng style of pu’er production to Assam’s assamica tea variety. The process takes about a week, from plucking the leaves through processing and compression into circular cakes.

He said the production was entirely handmade and began with small batches for personal consumption before the product was commercially launched three years ago. Sheng-style tea is faster to produce than Shou-style pu’er, which requires three to four years of ageing and controlled post-fermentation. Pu’er is traditionally pressed into cakes or bricks and develops its character through fermentation and ageing.

Industry representatives described the auction result as evidence that Assam’s tea resources could support products beyond conventional black and green varieties. Bidyananda Barkakoty, an adviser to the North Eastern Tea Association, said the result could also create an opportunity for phalap, a traditional tea made by the Singpho community, particularly in the Margherita region of Tinsukia district. Phalap is packed in bamboo and aged, giving it an earthy, woody and smoky character.

The Assam government has also increased its subsidy for orthodox and other speciality teas from ₹10 to ₹15 per kilogram, effective from the 2026-27 financial year.