An Assam Estate Sells India's First Batch of Matcha
Chota Tingrai Tea Estate's opening matcha lot cleared the Guwahati auction at Rs 3,000 a kilogram, a decade after the estate began building a Japanese-style production line, making Assam the first Indian producer of a product still supplied almost entirely by Japan, China, and Vietnam.
Chota Tingrai Tea Estate in Assam's Tinsukia district has produced India's first commercial matcha, and its opening lot cleared the Guwahati Tea Auction Centre at Rs 3,000 (about $35) a kilogram. According to The Sentinel, the sale, of Lot No. 7001, was conducted by J. Thomas & Co. Pvt. Ltd. around July 3 and bought by Sheosons Chai Co., a Guwahati buyer. ETV Bharat reported that the lot makes Assam the first Indian state to manufacture the product commercially.
Matcha, a finely ground powder made from specially cultivated green tea leaf, is not a variation on Assam's usual output. As Northeast Now reported, the estate reached it over roughly a decade of work with Japanese tea manufacturers, agronomists, and equipment suppliers, culminating in a fully automated, Japanese-style manufacturing facility built on site.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced the milestone on social media. As ETV Bharat reported, his post said the diversification "will help strengthen Brand Assam Tea in global markets." The Sentinel quoted him calling the lot "a resounding success of a decade-long Indo-Japan collaboration."
Assam, an overwhelmingly CTC black-tea region, has taken a genuine step into a new and scarce premium category with matcha, a green tea. ANI News reported that matcha is primarily produced in Japan, China, and Vietnam and is currently in global shortage as demand outruns supply, which is the gap a new commercial source steps into. The Assam Tribune reported that the state's 2026-27 budget, tabled July 10, extended its higher tea-production subsidy to matcha a week after this lot had already cleared at auction; the policy followed the market result rather than producing it, rewarding a category that has now shown it can sell. And it sold through the ordinary channel: Sheosons Chai Co. is a Guwahati buyer, so this first lot moved through the routine domestic wholesale auction rather than a negotiated export contract or a specialty purchaser. One lot at Rs 3,000 a kilogram is a proof of concept. It is not yet a market.
Sources: ANI News, Assam tea estate launches India's first commercially produce Matcha tea; ETV Bharat, Assam Scripts History: Chota Tingrai Launches India's First Commercially Produced Matcha Tea; The Sentinel (Assam), Assam Creates History in Tea Industry with India's First Commercial Matcha Tea; Northeast Now, Assam's Chota Tingrai Tea Estate produces India's first commercial Matcha tea; Assam Tribune, Tea industry gives Assam Budget thumbs-up for export subsidy, tax relief