The Chief Minister's Office of Assam announced on Thursday, 9 July 2026, that Chot Tingrai Tea Estate in Tinsukia has become the first tea estate in India to commercially produce Matcha tea, with the inaugural lot fetching ₹3,000 at the Guwahati Tea Auction Centre.

Context

Chot Tingrai Tea Estate, located in the Tinsukia district of upper Assam, achieved a milestone that has so far eluded every other tea garden in the country. Matcha — a finely ground powder of specially shade-grown green tea leaves — has historically been associated with Japan, where it forms the backbone of the traditional tea ceremony and a rapidly growing global food and beverage market. India has until now remained a consumer and importer of the product, not a producer.

The first commercial lot from Chot Tingrai was put up for trade at the Guwahati Tea Auction Centre, the region's primary price-discovery platform operating under the framework of the Tea Board of India. The opening price of ₹3,000 per lot signals early market interest in domestically produced Matcha.

Policy Backdrop

The Tea Board of India, constituted in 1953 under the Tea Act, has over the decades encouraged diversification beyond the bulk black tea that dominates Assam's output. Assam accounts for more than half of India's total tea production, the vast majority of which is CTC (crush-tear-curl) and orthodox black varieties sold at relatively low per-kilogram realisations.

Successive Tea Board schemes and national agricultural export policy have pushed estates toward value-added and specialty products — including orthodox, white, and green teas — to improve farmgate prices and compete in premium international markets. Commercial Matcha production represents the furthest point along that diversification curve attempted by any Indian estate.

Stakeholders and Impact

Tea growers across Assam's roughly 800 large estates and thousands of small-holder gardens stand to benefit if the Matcha experiment at Chot Tingrai proves replicable and commercially viable at scale. Specialty teas command significantly higher per-kilogram prices than commodity CTC grades, offering a route to better incomes for garden workers and smallholders alike.

Tea exporters are also watching closely: global Matcha demand — driven by health-conscious consumers in Europe, North America, and East Asia — has grown sharply over the past decade, and an Indian supply source could diversify the global market currently dominated by Japanese and, increasingly, Chinese producers. The Guwahati Tea Auction Centre will serve as the initial barometer of buyer appetite and price discovery for this new category.

What's Next

Industry observers will track subsequent auction results at Guwahati to see whether the debut price of ₹3,000 holds, rises, or attracts competitive bidding from specialty buyers and exporters. Any formal recognition or incentive from the Tea Board of India or the Government of Assam for Matcha processing units could accelerate adoption across other estates in Tinsukia and neighbouring districts.

If Chot Tingrai's model scales, Assam could position itself as a credible alternative origin for global Matcha buyers — adding a high-value chapter to a tea industry that has defined the state's economy for nearly two centuries.