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562 days ago
(http://www.dreamteammoney.com)
Category: Science Discovery Environment |
June 22 2007 at 01:33PM
Jorhat - Indian scientists have patented two new tea-based products - a pill and a fizzy drink they hope will give consumers the same pleasure as drinking a freshly brewed cuppa.
A four-member team based in the northeast state of Assam - the heart of India's tea industry - said their chewable pill and a health drink were now ready to cause a buzz on the world market.
"The pill is absolutely safe and can be chewed or placed under the tongue, besides drinking in the conventional manner by dipping the tablet in a cup of hot water," one of the scientists, Mridul Hazarika, told AFP on Friday.
"We are sure the tea tablets will be able to freshen and cheer up a person with nearly the same feeling as having a hot cup of brewed tea," he said.
The "Tea cola," meanwhile, will come in two varieties - green and black.
"The drink is made from pure natural tea extracts having a lot of medicinal properties in them," Hazarika said at the Tocklai Experimental Station in the tea growing town of Jorhat.
The facility was established in 1901 and is the world's main centre for tea research.
The products were developed two years ago, but held back by the developers as they sought patent protection for their inventions.
"With the patents rights granted, we are indeed excited," the scientist said. "We will first market the products in Assam. Then we will launch the products on the world market."
Hazarika said the pill would cost half a rupee to produce while the cola would cost 10 rupees (about R2) a litre to make.
Firms from Britain, Australia and Iran have approached the Tocklai Station about selling the products, he said.
India is the world's largest tea producer with Assam accounting for about 55 percent of the 955 million kilogrammes of the leaf produced worldwide in 2006. - Sapa-AFP
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