1. Loose Leaf Teas - Until now, we have focused on non-milk Loose Leaf Teas which are prepared in a teapot. This is 1% of the total tea market (Rs. 90,000 cr). We have Darjeeling Teas, Wellness Range Flavoured Teas, and special limited edition teas such as our Kukicha, and our Moonlight White Tea.
2. Original Chai (Pilot) - Our Doodh Chai SKU is branded as Original Chai (OG Chai). With a bright, vibrant, young packaging, we wanted to test whether it appeals to young consumers on QC. Given our results in the last 2 months (it's already become the best seller from our product catalogue), we plan to double down on this segment, with the following insight-- In India every region/city has a different preferred masala chai blend. Calcutta has it with adrak, elaichi, saffron. Mumbai with adrak, lemongrass. Tata had this insight 10 years ago with their Masala Chai blends. But they all have added chemical flavours. We plan to create a clean label masala chai range.
3. Microplastic Free Pyramid Tea Bags (Upcoming)-- Offering our popular blends and Darjeeling Teas in India's only plant based, biodegradable, microplastic free pyramid tea bags. At a price point which is in between the incumbents (Tetley, Typhoo, Organic India, Lipton) and new players like Vahdam Tea (2.2x of the incumbents). At 20% price premium, we will be the affordable premium uptrade.
Startup Description
Dorje Teas is a direct to consumer tea company based out of the heritage Selim Hill Tea Garden in Darjeeling. We appeared on S2 of Shark Tank India and are backed by Anupam Mittal and Vineeta Singh. We started Dorje Teas in order to revive our family's heritage tea garden in Darjeeling. We began with a unique subscription model for our seasonal Darjeeling Teas. Our aim was to offer an affordable premium (20% price point) uptrade to Darjeeling tea consumers, from the market leader (Lipton).
After our Shark Tank Appearance, we realised there's a need to create a better-for-you, affordable premium, tea company for younger consumers. We introduced a range of Wellness Blends like Chamomile Tea, Kashmiri Kahwa, etc. These are our own propreitary blends made with Darjeeling's organic green teas, which have low bitterness (hence our 25%+ repeat rates). But we only focused on loose leaf teas (1% of the total tea market - Rs. 90,000 cr), because of our inherent belief that tea bags (10% of the total market) are unhealthy.
We have finally cracked a plant based, microplastic free pyramid tea bag for our popular blends. We plan to offer these at not more than a 20% price premium. We are betting on Quick Commerce in order to become India's quickest and healthiest tea brand, thereby creating a multicategory tea brand for young Indian consumers.
Product Screenshots
Business Model
Internet first, FMCG company selling tea & tea relating appliances on different online and offline platforms.
Customers
based in
India
Business
Modal Type
Marketplace
Type of
Sales
B2C, B2B
Competitors
Focusing on Export:
VAHDAM Teas
Teabox
Blue Tea
Focusing on B2B:
TGL
Tea Trunk
Goodwyn
However, these companies are mostly focused on the overseas market. In India, our main competitors are the incumbents:
Tetley
Typhoo
Organic India
Lipton
Wagh Bakri
Tell us a bit about how founding team knows
each other.
Ishaan & Sparsh are childhood friends who went to school together. We've known each other for over 25 years now. From a very young age, we've been visiting our family's tea plantation in Darjeeling. We both have a deep connect with the tea garden, its people, and the mission of reviving our estate through a unique D2C model.
Why did you decide to start this
company?
Our family has one of the 74 heritage tea gardens in Darjeeling. This was on the verge of collapse during the pandemic. We started Dorje Teas in order to revive our family's tea garden.
Are all the founders full-time on this
project?
Yes
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