The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine has divided the world in two camps. The Russian forces have invaded Ukraine, cities have crumbled and war casualties are rising every day. As the threat of nuclear bombing looms, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Tuesday that they have entered the ‘second phase’ of the war, indicating that the war is far from coming to an end. In the midst of all this Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has emerged as quite a popular figure. When the US offered him help to evacuate, his refusal to leave his country in crisis made him an overnight sensation. Further, his moving speech in the UN about the war-ravaged Ukraine and his plea for help, also helped steer world’s attention towards Ukraine. Inspired by Ukrainian president's courage, an Assam-based tea start-up created a new tea blend, and named it after Zelenskyy. This happens to be their latest, strongest blend.
The founder of the brand, Aromica Tea, Ranjit Baruah was so impressed by Zelenskyy’s strength and patriotism, even after US offered him a ride to safety that he decided to dedicate his strongest blend to the actor-turned president.
The tea start-up has employed local women to work on various blends, one which is the Zelenskyy blend. For making the Zelenskyy tea blend, tow teas are combined which gives the tea its strong, malty flavour.
Image credit: Instagram @aromicatea (https://www.instagram.com/p/CbIijxHPPLD/)
The tea is grown and cultivated in the lush tea gardens of Assam of North-East India. While the verdict on the ‘tribute’ has been mixed, Ranjit in his interview to DW insists that it is not a gimmick. He also said in the interview that if the sales of the tea are good enough, he would be willing to give part of the proceedings to any organisation that is working for the welfare of Ukranian citizens afflicted by the war, and those displaced. The German-based news channel, DW News reports that the product is yet to make any profits as the launch prices are kept very low. However, people seem to be taking interest from all around the world and orders have bene pouring in non-stop. Some are even willing to pay more for the shipping than the tea itself.
What Is Tea Blending?
Zelenskyy Tea blend is made by blending two teas. But what does that mean? The art of blending tea is basically combining different types of tea together to build a final product. The aim is to create well-balanced flavour, with different kinds of tea leaves with different origins and character. One of the benefits of tea blending especially on commercial level is that the differences of tea leaf quality from season to season smoothens out and consistency of batches is maintained across mass scale. Blending tea leaves with herbs and spices of course, is known to have many healing benefits and are hailed across Indian and Chinese cultures. And of course, it helps in the addition of more flavourful and complex notes.