Maybe your cup of tea

KOCHI: If you don’t want to follow the conventional route and want a career that is interesting and rewarding tea management courses are the best bet for you.Tea industry is an ever growing sector as the beverage is drunk across the globe. The popularity of tea in both the East and West has made it the major industry which provides ample job opportunities. There are various institutes in India that offer courses in tea management that equip you to take specified positions within the industry. People who want to be a part of the industry can enter at different levels including production, finance, processing, marketing sales and tea tasting. Among them tea tasting is one good option for those interested.  “Tea testing is quite a challenging and interesting job profile as it calls for expertise that checks the quality of the blends,” said Amit Bakharia, a tea taster. The basic qualification required for a tea management course is graduation. Candidates who have studied home science, agricultural science, food science, horticulture and Botany will be given preference. Some of the major institutes that offer courses in tea management include NITM, Darjeeling Tea Research and Management Association, Kadamtala, Dipras Institute of Professional Studies, Kolkata, Assam Darjeeling Tea Research Centre, Birla Institute of Futuristic Studies, Kolkata, UPASI Tea Research Institute, Tamil Nadu, The Tea Tasters Academy, Coonoor, Assam Agricultural University, Indian Institute of Plantation Management, Bangalore, and Assam University. Since the demand for tea in India is far beyond the supply the industry is fast expanding and the demand for qualified hands is on a rise. A number of organisations directly recruit skilled candidates and offer them good incentives. The Tea Board of India, Tea Plantations and Tea Associations are among the main organisations which require people who have done tea management courses. Then there are various levels of managerial positions at plantations and you can also opt   for jobs in broking houses as tea consultants and research personnel. “There are plenty of openings outside India too and the scope for freelancing is also big as far as tea tasters are concerned. A professional tea taster can earn anything starting from Rs 20,000 at the entry level,” said Amit.