In Conversation With Yogesh Agarwal
1. Could you please walk us through the creation of TeaCurry from start to end?
For over 27 years and three generations, the Teacurry family has been passionate about one thing - Wellness - starting in a small passageway when Santosh Agarwal Sawaldawala created his first black tea blend until today. Teacurry has been built with a passion for teas, herbal blends, aromas and wellness curated by professional blenders and herbalists with extensive experience since 1994. In addition to venturing and supplying to Tea Cafes and Wellness Stores, Teacurry (teacurry.com) has made sure that its herbs and teas are known for their effectiveness and benefits. Teacurry gets its tea leaves, herbs, flowers and spices only from certified estates that share the same vision and ethics. Teacurry is steeped in a legacy that’s centuries old. From the garden to cups, Teacurry makes sure that all the benefits of the leaves stay intact. Teacurry only sources organically farmed herbs and tea leaves from ethical tea gardens.
Beginning with a single herbalist in 1994, the TEACURRY Doctor-Herbalist partner community has grown to over 220 medical doctors and practitioners throughout India and some abroad. These Doctor partners are at the heart of Teacurry's mission and vision — to serve each individual dedicated to healthy conscious living by providing true wellness solutions. Teacurry (teacurry.com) has also ventured into offline retail into numerous countries including USA, Canada, Australia, UK and UAE. It has tied up with names like Walmart, Best Buy, 7-Eleven, etc. More than 21 lakh customers from 51 countries drink Teacurry Wellness Teas. All ingredients of Teacurry are research plant-based and come only from certified gardens. Teacurry is currently working with more than 110 distributors, 220 doctors and 800 retail stores across India and 18 distributors overseas. Combining thousands of years of Ayurvedic wisdom and Modern-day foods - Teacurry (teacurry.com) creates products that give you the benefits of both the sciences. Teacurry's complete ecosystem offers more than just tea - wholesome wellness with free diet consultation and guidance from experts to keep you motivated and to help you on your journey of being better. Currently Teacurry serves more than 350 varieties of teas and wellness blends.
2. How do you intend to make TeaCurry stand out in a market that is already well-established, if not overcrowded?
Teacurry is not just a tea company but a wellness brand. It's a first of its kind, which believes in offering blends that not only add to taste but also to health and wellness. It's very uniquely positioned as its leaves and flowers are selected based on effect rather than just taste. Where a plant comes from has a huge effect on its character, effect, smell and taste. So Teacurry (teacurry.com) always looks and works with only those farmers and suppliers who can either sustainably collect or cultivate leaves and herbs that meet the high-quality standards of the company. Teacurry doesn't make blends because they are trending on social media or because they sound good. Teacurry only makes blends when the teams of doctors and herbalists have enough scientific backing to support health theories. Teacurry blenders come with decades of experience and have immense knowledge of tea leaves and herbs, which have been helping people for centuries. Teacurry tea leaves and blends go through rigorous testing before they make it to your teabags and teacups. Teacurry (teacurry.com) tests each leaf and herb by identity, strength and purity.
3. How is Ayurveda a boon to humanity?
Ayur is ‘Life’ and Veda is ‘Science’ so Ayurveda is the ‘The Science of a Life’ the traditional medicinal practices of India and the oldest Healthcare system in the world. Evolved with the profound understanding of the universe and its creation, a system of both preventive and curative medications, Ayurveda has been used for at least 5000 years. Ayurveda realizes that everyone is distinctive and consequently, each person’s path towards ultimate health is unique. Ayurveda defines physiology with regards to 3 forces called Doshas. Each person has all 3 of those doshas with them. These doshas also fluctuate by exactly how we live our lives and as they decrease or increase they cause different conditions inside the head and body. The goal of Ayurveda is to bring back the right balance of those physiological powers. Ayurveda uses diet, colors, aromas, sounds and touch to restore equilibrium. Ayurveda is among the most advanced herbal sciences in the world and herbal blends play a huge role in Ayurveda. Ayurveda teaches us to synchronize our body, mind, and soul with the rhythms of nature. Also suggest that if we follow good morning startup with the natural routines with proper diet and aromas that heal our body, mind, and soul, and it gives disease free uncomplicated life. We need to strive towards achieving this perfect balance because balance is health while an imbalance is what is known as illness or an ailment. Ayurveda balances all the doshas like; Vata, Pitta, and Kapha which is the solution to bring most of the diseases to termination, even before they destroy the operations of the human body or inhibit with the smooth functioning of the internal organs - and so a boon to humanity.
Teacurry herbalists and doctors use the wisdom of different cultures which has been helping people for centuries. For Teacurry, it’s very important to pass on ancient knowledge along with all its blends that are prepared. Teacurry's formulations are an important way to do this. Teacurry teas are created according to various traditional systems of herbal medicines with complex rules. Each system has its own rationale for herb formulations, but there are similar general principles among all systems. The hierarchies include the Basic Remedy, in which one to five herbs address the condition, along with supporting herbs added to compliment the basic remedy. A small number of taste herbs, or corrigents, are used to make the tea taste good. Teacurry's herbal experts are some of the most highly trained and respected professionals in their field. Teacurry takes great pride in creating blends to highlight quality, efficacy and purity.
4. How does green tea aid in metabolism enhancement?
Green Tea is one of the best drinks on earth and that too for all the good reasons. Green Tea is loaded with anti-oxidants and numerous helpful plant compounds that have tons of health benefits - weight loss being just one of them. The polyphenols, called catechins, have the ability to aid fat loss. Metabolism is the rate at which your body converts food into usable energy. The faster your metabolism is, the faster you burn fat. Studies have shown that without the addition of exercise and just by consuming green tea regularly, you can burn an additional 75–100 calories per day, making it a great choice if you’re looking to boost your metabolism. Belly fat is not just unattractive but potentially lethal because it leads to inflammation, heart disorders, high blood pressure, insulin resistance, and diabetes. But regular consumption of green tea can eliminate belly fat in just a matter of a few weeks. To burn fat, your body must first break it down in the fat cell and move it into your bloodstream. Studies suggest that the active compounds in green tea can aid this process by boosting the effects of fat-burning hormones, such as norepinephrine (noradrenaline). The main antioxidant in tea, EGCG, can help inhibit an enzyme that breaks down the hormone norepinephrine. When this enzyme is inhibited, the amount of norepinephrine increases, promoting fat breakdown. In fact, caffeine and EGCG — both of which are found naturally in green tea — have a synergistic effect. Ultimately, your fat cell breaks down more fat, which is released into your bloodstream for use as energy by cells like muscle cells. Moreover, Green Tea helps increase metabolism by 8%, if one consumes high-quality green tea. This is exactly what Teacurry does. Whole leaf Green Tea coming especially from Assam and Darjeeling and from the foothills of the Himalayas, contains the highest antioxidant compounds, thus giving the maximum benefit in terms of weight loss. It is important to highlight that green tea can be combined with several other ingredients to offer even more healthy weight loss benefits – fenugreek, ginger, spearmint, hibiscus and cinnamon. Teacurry (teacurry.com), did a meta-analysis of 15 studies and found that green tea catechins helped participants lose an average of 4 pounds more than the control groups. Moreover, evidence shows that the metabolism-boosting effects of Green Tea last for the long term.
5. Does the tea help with PCOS and PCOD?
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) and Polycystic Ovary Disease (PCOD) are conditions that is characterized by hormone imbalance and is not a disease - it's just a state of the body. Moreover, the symptoms associated with PCOS vary from woman to woman. Teacurry PCOS PCOD Tea or Teacurry SheBalance Tea goes a long way in helping with hormone balance and in synchronizing periods. It consists of herbs and leaves such as spearmint, tulsi, fenugreek, nettle, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon and fennel. All these also help with managing weight, reducing unwanted hair, lowering testosterone levels, increasing metabolism, improving digestion and aiding with acne problems. Teacurry PCOS PCOD Tea or She Balance Tea has a soft sweet taste with a refreshing flavour of spearmint. It is delicate on your palate and is available in both forms as Tea Bags or as loose tea. The sun-soaked golden colour of Teacurry PCOS PCOD Tea or She Balance Tea Kahwa is full of sweetness and warmth offering ecstasy with each sip.
6. What are your company's most important markets?
Apart from India, Teacurry has ventured into global locations including USA, Canada, Australia, UK and UAE. It has its own retail stores in these countries and it also owns an online portal (teacurry.us) to serve customers from across 51 countries. However its major sales still comes from India and the US.
7. What are your plans for future expansion?
Teacurry is in the process of setting up a new manufacturing plant in Remount road, Kolkata, West Bengal to be spread across an area of 40,000 square feet. The location is both strategical in terms of procurement and in terms of keeping manufacturing cost low. Also, a testing lab spread aross 4 floors is being setup to accommodate for quality checks. Teacurry sources the most authentic ingredients from farms across the globe. This ensures that the customer gets the best Clean Nutrition to live an active life.
Moreover, the brand is venturing deeper into international markets by tying up with more retail chains especailly across South East Asia and Europe. Like Kiku Shardha and Shraman Joshi, Teacurry is planning to onboard more celebrities who can help market the brand better. However all such brand promotions are only made possible when these renowned celebrities have actually tried Teacurry teas and do believe in the brand to add health.
Teacurry is currently working with more than 110 distributors across India. Teacurry is looking to grow its brand presence by 300% by the end of the year in terms of offline geographic expansion.
