kolkata indian tea industry is up for an image makeover in their quest to make tea a lifestyle beverage for the youngsters tea producers have decided to reach out to the new generation with the hot brew the indian tea association ita top tea producers body along with the tea board of india would take the social media and other digital routes to introduce tea to the geny besides arranging firstofitskind b2c business to customers tea carnivals across the country ita has planned to customize catchy tea apps for cellphones and post visualsactivities through various hot live updates an image consulting agency would also be roped in to handle this entire imagemakeover process on behalf of ita almost 60 of this countrys population is young if we cant make tea popular to them at this age well set to lose a huge number of potential tea drinkers in the years to come the tea consumption will take a huge beating and result in a big loss for the big and small tea producers as well as labourers said a n singh chairman ita according to industry experts the current initiatives rejuvenation and replantation of tea trees and surge in small tea growers output would find few takers if there is no category growth tea bodies in india have thus felt the urge to hit the road and disseminate benefits ranging from stimulation to health to cosmetic of the good old cuppa to the housewives school and collegegoing generation in an engaging manner said s patra joint secretary ita the pilot campaign developed on a mobilecarnival model would cover tier i ii cities covering those who frequent malls to start with carnivals will be rolled out in prominent malls in gurgaon ahmedabad and mumbai beginning august 23 itas tea mission will be extended to seven more cities including delhi bangalore and jaipur in 201415 the visitors will able to taste and learn about different tea varieties and recipes of various tealinked food items we are already late the coffee industry had done it quite a few years ago its a fact that a major portion of urban youth is hooked to coffee hangouts but we seldom see any upscale tea bar around us this way we have lost a huge number potential beverage lovers to coffee carbonated soft drinks health and energy drinks added singh who is also md of goodricke group overall rise in per capita consumption of tea in india 700gm is getting stagnant our percapita tea intake is much lesser than even pakistan and bangladesh most of the indian housewives know nothing about tea varieties and different recipes youths are not engaged with it too we refrain kids from drinking it it is perceived to be a drink for the older generation the industry clearly lacks a consumer pull we must go for more market connect and research now said azam monem additional vice chairman of ita although the project is being funded and anchored