The Junglee Brew

Sanjay Kapur has been thoughtfully nostalgic since the day Shammi Kapoor passed away. The owner of Aap Ki Pasand,a 30-year-old tea boutique in Old Delhi’s Daryaganj,he fondly remembers the times when a particular buyer from Mumbai would come looking for San-cha Deep Red Assam tea. Knowing that his clients were fussy tea lovers,who would question the character of the teas before brewing it,he once asked who this buyer represented. “Shammi Kapoor,the actor,” came the reply.

The late actor apparently loved this flavour of tea and would specially commission its purchase through a dedicated tea buyer. That little bit of information continued to simmer in Kapur’s memory,he being a big fan of Bollywood’s only Junglee. “The San-cha Assamica or the Camellia Assamica is an Indian jungli bush,that yields the long-leafed tea,” says

Kapur,adding that its woody and malty character is distinct from Kenyan,Chinese,even other

Indian teas. “The British loved this tea and tried in vain to plant it in other places,but nothing could replace the unique flavour of the Assamica,” he says. “It is jungli and by that I mean it is domicile and represents India’s bio-diversity,” he says. The metaphor needs no brewing,it is ready to taste.