in this candid interview, sy’a co-founder siddharth nath tells you about his own journey with tea and the meaning it holds in his life.
tell us sid, how has your relationship with tea evolved over the years?
sid: i was never a tea drinker growing up. in india, this is rather unusual. and my parents knew that someday i would grow into it. they would say, ‘abhi chota hain, baad mein aadat lag jaayegi’ i.e. ‘he is young now, he will develop the habit someday’. i saw them drinking chai at least twice or thrice a day so this was not incorrect to assume.
however, it was not until after my engineering college days that i took a liking for tea, though i must admit i was a very lazy tea drinker. i hardly made it for myself. i relied on my flatmates of friends to make a good cup for me!
but once aastha and i got married, tea became a staple. it is something of our love language, sharing the first cup of chai during the day, and spending time with each other over it. i can neither do without the chai nor without that smile in the morning!
what is it about a well-made cup of tea that is so indulgent as an experience?
very few things match up to a well-made cup of tea, which is more refreshing than coffee (sorry coffee lovers!). waking up with tea is like waking up to soft yet peppy music, energising without being jarring. while waking up to coffee is like an electric shock. i prefer tea for that subtlety and the slow beautiful effect it has on your senses.
what’s that well-made cup? a delicate balance of tea leaves, water and/or milk. how the colour changes as the composition does, and how these subtle differences can be tailored to each taste and preference. it is beautiful!
do you have special teas saved for special occasions?
although i grew a taste for it relatively later in life, my tea rituals are sacred to me. my mornings don’t start without a masala chai, which is black tea with milk and spices.
during the day when i need a pick me up, i prefer a minty tea which can be had with hot or cold water. mint tea also goes very well with sheesha which is a big part of the culture here in the Middle East.
as aastha has said earlier , tea punctuates all occasions big or small, not just our daily lives. that is also why i think tea is such a rich experience. it comes in such a range that tastes great hot or cold, lending its richness to all aspects of our lives.
speaking about sy’a, what is its origin story?
sy’a began as a marketing idea of sharing with the world our philosophy of tea and what appeals to us about it. but in doing that, we want to paint a picture, tell a story - of the journey of tea, about how each tea is picked and processed in a specific way.
a part of this story is revealed in our product curation itself - we have white tea, blue tea, black tea, and green tea.
each of these teas come from the same plant but the colour of the tea is a function of when the leaf is plucked in the Plants lifecycle. so essentially each leaf can evolve into wildly different flavours and colours. that is what is fascinating, and we hope to convey that to every single person who tastes a cup of sy’a.
we have also expanded this mix into non-caffeinated herbal tea infusions. these cover a variety of fruity and floral blends that offer a full range of tastes for the tongue and the other senses.
quality determines the experience to a great extent. so we are painstakingly mindful of the quality of our teas - where the leaves are sourced from, the climate and soil in which they are grown and more.
and last but not the least, a lot of thought has been put into the experience beyond the taste i.e. the entire journey that you will go through. right from the time you order through the website to the first time you see the bag and the packaging. and ultimately culminating in the first sip you take. all gravitating towards an experience unlike any other!
