By Tanya Banon

New Delhi, Mar 19 (IANSlife): Tata Consumer Products Limited launched a range of teas celebrating the unique flavours inspired by the streets of India, Tata Tea Premium - Street Chais of India. The range includes four iconic variants inspired by the signature flavours from the streets of India - Kolkata Street Chai, Mumbai Cutting Chai, Purani Dilli ki Mithai Chai, and Hyderabadi Irani Chai.

The launch event held at Sultanpur Metro station, saw Puneet Das, President - Packaged Beverages (India and South Asia), Tata Consumer Products, unveiled the new tea range. The launch event was a unique experience, with the Delhi metro being wrapped in the brand's Delhi pack, celebrating the Delhi Street Chai and iconic Delhi monuments. To take forward this approach, the voice that represents street, Rapper RCR Rapstar performed a specially composed rap song that captured the colourful spirit of Delhi's street chai culture, while traveling from Sultanpur to Lok Kalyan Marg metro station. As one of the most successful operating metros in India, the Delhi metro serves as an element of pride for Delhi-ites and truly reflects the action and emotion of the city.

Tata Tea Premium is known for its 'hyperlocal' approach to creating distinct blends, and Tata Tea Premium Street Chais of India collection evokes pride and nostalgia but also brings alive the hustle and bustle of the city streets with its iconic street chais. The brand wants to offer this experience to its consumers by bringing the flavours inspired by four different regions of India to their homes.

Present at the launch, Puneet Das, President - Packaged Beverages (India and South Asia), Tata Consumer Products said, "Tata Tea Premium Street Chais of India is a unique range of tea that aims to capture the authentic taste of street chai found across India. Each iconic city's chai variant is designed to evoke pride and regional connection, and what better way to showcase the vibrancy of Delhi than by associating with the city's lifeline - the Delhi Metro. The Purani Dilli ki Mithai Chai variant is a celebration of the bustling food and chai culture of Delhi, and is an ode to signature desserts Delhites love. Its packaging highlights the city's iconic monuments, instilling a sense of pride. RCR Rapstar has collaborated with us to create a rap that specifically captures the essence of Purani Dilli, bringing the streets of Delhi to life. Our aim with Tata Tea Premium Street Chais of India is to offer you a flavourful experience that takes you on a journey through the streets of Delhi/India with each sip."

Puneet Das, President - Packaged Beverages (India and South Asia), Tata Consumer Products while speaking with IANSlife

There are a lot of new entrants in the tea segment, what you believe is actually driving this sudden emergence of so many participants in the category?

Puneet : I think a lot of start-ups probably are playing more to the direct to consumer channel. I think a lot of start-ups are coming in also because today if you have to reach consumers directly, online is a possibility and hence people are getting into it, but I think when we look at leading players and the scale that's where you know you really need to rely on distribution strength and bandwidth, and that's where brand like TATA Tea succeeds because we have the distribution muscle and band equity to reach out to more households

Tea brands are now focusing on brews aimed with special health benefits, can we expect TATA Tea premium to explore this segment?

Puneet : Innovation is our pillar, and is based on premium-isation, convenience, health and wellness, before this launch we had actually done 2-3 launches along the health pillar, so we launched Gold care which is basically made out of natural ingredients and herbs, we have premium Tata Tea Teaveda which has goodness of ingredients. So, we have been focusing on health and wellness as a pillar, but with this launch we focus on authentic street flavours of chai.

What's your vision for the brand this year, what are the expectations you have anticipated?

Puneet : I think brand vision is we want to become the preferred tea in every household and one of the leading players, if you are leading player, still it's a very fragmented market and many players operate in many different regions and our plan is to enter into more and more households. That's why while we continue to grow our system core business, I guess it's bringing in the excitement in the tea category and launch of street styles of India to give consumers one more reason to try our brand..

Also there are many influencers, celebrities and brand collaboration which become the new marketing mantra, replacing typical brand endorsements, what's your take on it?

Puneet : I think to have right person to associated with your brand is the right thing, earlier this used to happen with well known celebrities but today people are connected with influencers which is the slight change in the dynamic. This is the right thing as that's what digital outreach allows you to have and reach out to people who are like minded and share similar interests, tabbed by the influencers.

It depends on your brand strategy if it is to speak certain users and you can always tap into influencers who can connect you with the people, and which is more cost effective strategy, and I think trend will remain. Even in the case of when people used to celebrity endorsement it's what role the celebrity added to your brand and the question is what you are expecting out of it. For example, we did a Lohri campaign which was done in the markets of North and Punjab with Shehnaaz Gill who is a influencer-cum-celeb to create folk songs which are called and it worked very well for us because she is identified with the market. So for this launch we collaborated with a Rapstar RCR because he represents the streets of India in that sense. So, it's really about looking for who the right person is because is adds value to a brand strategy .

Also observing from the 2 years of pandemic, traditional blues like Kaddha or modern variants like turmeric latte have become daily essentials, do you believe TATA Tea premium needs to focus on such products to follow this lifestyle change ?

Puneet : I would correct this as people have not adopted this, people are talking about it, people might have picked it up once or twice, but people are not having this on regular basis. But what pandemic has allowed and done is that it has made people aware about health and wellness, its at the top of their minds and a priority, they are seeking experiences from their food and beverages. So will keep monitoring this trend and when we feel this needs to be addressed in the market, we will launch relevant offerings.

Tea is the very important daily ritual in every Indian household, what makes the TATA Tea the preferred choice?

Puneet : I think one of our biggest strength and the DNA of a successful brand is that we are very closely monitoring the regional preferences of tea. So, while tea may look like a brown liquid with milk and sugar, we know different preferences in different regions prefer their tea in different ways. So, TATA Tea has understood these preferences with different prices and I think that's the strength; we have been very true to it and with the Street Chais of India launch is a step further in this direction.

The classic green colour and the packaging rightly brings out the premium-ness of the brand and highlights the story behind each variant. The four packs have unique packaging, representing the pride of each city and its various iconic elements. The Delhi pack showcases the pride of Delhi - The Red Fort. Tata Tea Premium Street Chais of India is a collection that appreciates and celebrates the very local street flavours of India. All variants of Tata Tea Premium Street Chais of India are 250 g, priced at MRP Rs. 145/- (Incl. of all taxes) and available on Ecommerce and Grocery outlets near you.