Glenworth devises nitrogen packaging for orthodox teas

In an effort to prevent tea adulteration and ensure freshness and quality, Anamalais-based Glenworth Estate Limited has come up with nitrogen flushing packaging for bulk orthodox teas.

Addressing a press conference, K Gopalakrishnan, director of the company, said the new technology aims at capturing the freshness of the produce and sealing its rich anti oxidants which give tea its unique healing properties.

Moreover, this system prevents moisture accumulation, thus ensuring that tea retains its flavour even after a long period of shipment.

Explaining the advantages of nitrogen flushing, he said that it retained the garden freshness of the tea and its flavour right from the place of production to the end-consumer.

"The shelf life of the tea gets extended beyond 12 months while storage and handling of packages also become easier due to compact packing," he said.

Nitrogen flushing prevents crumbling of the orthodox tea leaves besides preventing deterioration of quality due to exposure to oxygen.

In March this year, Waterfall Estates, a sister concern of Glenworth Estates, had devised a vacuum packaging system for CTC variety of teas.

Glenworth Estate has invested around Rs 1.2 crore in designing the state of the art machinery needed for nitrogen flushing technology besidse importing an electronic colour sorter from Japan to remove impurities from the produce.

The company has an annual production of 15 lakh kilo, and is into the making of speciality teas such as winter and frost teas that are targeted at the premium segment.

"We asre planning to launch four premium brands - Glendale Heritage, Glendale Aurea, Glendale Supreme and Glendale Frost by the end of January 2007, both in overseas and domestic market. We are already carrying out promos in Paris where it would be marketed in the form of dip teas while in India it would be marketed in 100 or 250 gram packets,"Gopalakrishnan added.