A cup of tea just a phone call away!

In a unique attempt to provide hygienic tea to quality conscious tea lovers who otherwise have to go to roadside stalls to satiate themselves, a shop in India’s western Rajkot provides the beverage by phone call.

Known as Kaka’s tea on travel, the new concept has clicked well with people who can now have their cuppa at their homes, offices, gardens, bus stops and other public places at any time of the day as the shop provides 24-hour service.

Customers say they are happy with the whole idea as not only the beverage is hygienic, it’s steaming hot, apt to stimulate their taste buds and comes at a nominal price of three rupees for a half-cup and six rupees for a full cup of tea.

Kamlesh Anjaria, a customer, said it’s even better for regular customers who get their tea by giving just a missed call to the shop owner.

"It’s different as we, who are regular customers have to give a missed call and the tea is delivered at our office. It’s not like this otherwise whereby either the tea arrives so late that our customers are gone and moreover it’s cold and even unhygienic. This tea is hygienic and good," said Anjaria.

Kuldeep Chauhan, the owner of the shop, said though initially he did not get support for running a well-equipped office from the third floor of a complex that too for tea, time changed the circumstances as now he has around 250 regular customers.

"The aim behind opening this shop is to deliver good tea at hospitals, working places where the shops are closed at night. We deliver tea to them and also those people who come from outstations at odd hours can call us up and we provide quality tea to them," said Chauhan.

Apart from tea, the vendors also deliver coffee and milk to the customers.

India is the world’s largest producer and consumer of tea and exports the commodity to more than 80 countries and accounts for nearly 15 per cent of world tea trade.

Though, the largest producer, India has been losing its share of the world tea market to countries like Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Kenya, which offer better-quality teas at cheaper prices.

Exports slipped to 167 million kg in 2004 from 173 million in 2003 and 201 million in the previous year.