If you want to drink black tea, laced with honey or fresh lime or maple syrup - Nathmulls Tea Cosy is the place to go to. This, the first tea boutique in Chennai, offers a blend of the best Indian teas and the finest Indian craftsmanship. The teas are packed in exquisitely hand crafted wooden boxes and also packed in leather, velvet, fabric, plywood, jute, cane, paper mache, copper, walnut and handcrafted wooden boxes.

The tea is offered black, without adding sugar or milk since that is believed to dilute the properties of this herbal drink. 20 varieties of brewed tea are offered, while 70 varieties of orthodox leaf teas come in three kinds of packs - regular, gift packs and an exclusive. The regular packs like Golden Orange Pekoe are the most popular, apart from 'Green tea', which also happens to be the most popular of the tea brews.

What makes 'Green tea' so special? Usually, any kind of tea is fermented and during fermentation it loses some of its specialities. But Green tea is tea that is oxidised, dried and then brewed. It has 'catechins' which is believed to be an anti oxidant and helps in preventing many kinds of cancer and blood pressure-related problems. If you want to know more about the medicinal properties of 'Green tea', then just browse through the chart beside the display shelves.

Nathmulls not only promotes its own brand of tea but also markets the best Indian teas available, that have only adorned the shelves of supermarket shelves abroad so far. Tea leaves are plucked in three seasons - April to July, August to December and January to March. The tea leaf has different flavours in each season. The leaf that is plucked in the second season is considered to be the best. At Nathmulls, tea is available in separate seasonal packs. For example, in the first season it is available in packs called First Flush Tea and so with the other two seasons.

There are also other 'concept' gift packs - a pack of tea leaves from different places like Darjeeling, Assam, Kangra, Nilgiris and Green Tea and a pack of 'Estate' teas, with leaves from several estates in one pack. The staff at Tea Cosy brief customers on how to brew, since unlike other products, tea is evaluated only by its taste.

Says Roy Mattackal of Nathmulls, "Tea Cosy is meant to educate, create an awareness and help the Indian community appreciate a good cuppa tea".

Address: Nathmulls Tea Cosy, F-100,First Floor, Spencers Plaza II, # 769, Anna Salai (Mount Road), Chennai - 600 002,
Phone: 490 3616