Arya News - The development comes as global demand for matcha has skyrocketed, driven by its claimed health benefits, growing interest in Japanese culture and the rise of cafes that seem to be folding matcha into practically every other item on their menu, ranging from lattes to doughnuts.
CHOTA TINGRAI, ASSAM – When Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made her first official visit to India from July 1 to 3, a host of big-ticket agreements were announced spanning artificial intelligence, energy, defence and critical minerals.
But away from this spotlight, another development – a welcome coincidence not part of the official proceedings – sprang forth on July 3 through a special India-Japan collaboration.
That day, the Guwahati Tea Auction Centre in India’s north-eastern Assam state sold the country’s first commercial batch of matcha, a green tea traditionally made from shade-grown Camellia sinensis leaves in Japan.
This tea, however, was made from an indigenous variety grown locally and processed using Japanese machinery in Chota Tingrai, a tea estate in Assam that has nudged India’s 200-plus-year-old tea industry into a new frontier.
Black tea has long been the mainstay of the country’s tea industry, but thanks to Chota Tingrai, India is today among a handful of countries and regions other than Japan – including China, Taiwan, South Korea and Vietnam – that can produce matcha locally.
The development comes as global demand for matcha has skyrocketed in recent years, driven by its claimed health benefits, growing interest in Japanese culture and the rise of cafes that seem to be folding matcha into practically every other item on their menu, ranging from lattes to doughnuts.
India is no exception. Here, the vivid green swirl has found its way into traditional sweets such as ladoo and even savoury classics such as dosa.
Matcha mania has sent prices zooming up globally, drawing interest from tea growers in different countries, including the Jalan family in India. They run Jalan Industries, a family-led group incorporated in 1922, which today owns six tea estates in Assam, including the nearly 90-year-old Chota Tingrai tea estate.
“The demand was difficult to ignore,” said Mrityunjay Jalan, 34, the fourth-generation owner of Chota Tingrai. He was speaking to The Straits Times while seated on the verandah of a gable tin-roof bungalow that his great-grandfather had constructed during WWII, complete with an underground bunker.
A worker loading fresh tea leaves onto the conveyor belt at Chota Tingrai’s green tea and matcha factory. PHOTO: THE STRAITS TIMES
Back then, the Japanese were enemies, but now they are allies in a partnership that has given the Jalans a crucial head start. They have produced green tea for several years with support from their Japanese partners, and graduated to their first experimental batch of matcha in 2017.
It was a pilot project that demonstrated matcha could indeed be produced domestically from an Indian tea variety – in this case, Camellia assamica, which is widely grown in Assam.
The growing demand for matcha in India in recent years, projected to reach US$167 million (S$212 million) by 2030, convinced the Jalans to relaunch matcha production on a commercial scale in 2026.
It is a small shift for a country wedded to its milky masala chai, but an important one nonetheless. Chota Tingrai’s matcha currently sells for around 3,000 rupees (S$40) to 3,800 rupees a kilogram at the auction house, where it is picked up by buyers for further sales.
A key challenge that the Jalans had to overcome was to find the right local cultivar suited for matcha. In this case, Tinali 17 was chosen because of its high polyphenol and amino acid content, as well as its rich green colour – essential attributes for matcha.
The tea at Chota Tingrai is produced by steaming fresh tea leaves and then putting them through a cycle of some six drying sessions in gas-powered dryers – each with its lower temperature settings – while simultaneously rolling the leaves. This meticulously calibrated process ensures that many of the leaf’s natural properties, such as its antioxidants, are retained rather than lost to heat.
The leaves are then cooled overnight, after which the tencha, as the raw material is known, is transferred in small batches to a milling machine, where it is finely ground for over 12 hours to yield matcha in its final powdered form.
Tencha, the raw material that is ground finely to make matcha. PHOTO: THE STRAITS TIMES
The entire manufacturing process uses Japanese machinery specifically crafted for Assam’s tea, with support from Masanori Yanagawa, a tea industry consultant from Japan who worked with the Jalans for over three years.
A key priority is to reduce the bitterness of the Camellia assamica variety, which gives its black tea the prized bold taste but is unwelcome in matcha.
“Matcha is the only form of tea where you are ingesting the entire leaf, so you can’t have something that is too bitter,” said Mrityunjay Jalan’s father, Mrigendra, 68.
That bitterness is reduced through steaming, which must also be carefully regulated, as steaming reduces the leaf’s natural green colour and other beneficial properties characteristic of good-quality matcha.
The Jalans are clear that their product is not a replacement for Japanese matcha, and are branding it as Matcha assamica.
This is born of both reverence for the “sacrosanct and unique” place that indigenous matcha commands in Japanese society, as well as the realisation that they can never reproduce the unique taste imparted by Japanese terroir to its tea in Assam’s different geography.
“It is as if Japan tried to grow and make masala chai,” said Mrityunjay Jalan, a Singapore Management University graduate. “They would never get what we make.”
Chota Tingrai attempted to grow Yabukita, a widely grown tea plant variety in Japan, but found it neither suitable for Assam’s hot climate nor resilient to local pests. “It’s not as robust as the indigenous varieties of Assam,” said the younger Jalan.
But the Jalans are convinced that Matcha assamica’s unique flavour profile can win over aficionados across the world, especially in non-traditional, growing matcha markets that the Jalans hope to export to, such as the US, Europe and West Asia.
The younger Jalan says pure Japanese matcha comes with a “very strong umami flavour and strong grassy note” that non-traditional tea drinkers may find hard to acquire a taste for.
While Chota Tingrai’s matcha has the vegetal flavour notes that matcha should have, its less astringent flavour, with a sweet lingering aftertaste, makes it smoother on the palate – and, therefore, more appealing to people trying matcha for the first time, he thinks.
“It can be an entryway for people to start drinking a lighter variety of matcha and then maybe move on to a stronger grade of matcha,” Mrityunjay Jalan added.
Yanagawa, a certified Japanese tea instructor, told ST that while Chota Tingrai’s matcha cannot replace traditional Japanese matcha, which is “tea made from leaves grown using Japanese varieties and Japanese cultivation methods”, it can help meet the global demand for new green tea products “that share the functionality and appeal of matcha”.
“If matcha-style green tea products that meet the quality and functional standards that consumers desire can consistently be produced using cultivars and locations from anywhere in the world, I believe Assam holds significant potential,” he added.
A bowl of matcha at Chota Tingrai. The tea estate in Assam has produced India’s first batch of commercial matcha. PHOTO: THE STRAITS TIMES
Success, however, hinges on leveraging Assam’s specific tea varieties, climate, and cultivation environment to develop “matcha-style green tea products” that meet global quality standards, while establishing a system for consistent production, Yanagawa noted.
Today, India’s tea industry is increasingly diversifying away from black tea to find new revenue streams.
The Jalans’ tea gardens, for instance, produce around three million kilograms of tea annually, a growing proportion of which is green tea, currently accounting for around 130,000kg a year. Matcha, of which they have so far produced around 250kg in 2026, is the latest addition to this diversified basket.
Other than green tea, some firms in Assam and Manipur also produce traditional Pu’er-style fermented and raw teas using local varieties. Gardens in Darjeeling have even crafted tea from Yabukita, merging Japanese botanical genetics with local Indian terroir.
The Indian tea industry was once a global leader in production. However, it has been bogged down by a range of problems, including rising production and labour costs, reduced yields from ageing tea bushes, more frequent extreme-weather events, surging and cheaper imports, and stagnant auction prices.
The Jalans spent over US$1 million setting up the green tea and matcha factory, producing some 800kg daily. It is a risky investment, but they feel sure their matcha will become a hit, allowing them to recoup costs.
“We can feel it in our bones,” said the elder Jalan.
With additional reporting from Walter Sim in Tokyo