The Nilgiri Tea Emporium

The Nilgiri Tea Emporium is located down Lasa Lamsa Lane, specifically at 5-2-1040, right near the Moazzamjahi Market. If you know the market, you know it’s a busy place with all sorts of smells and sounds. We’ve been here in this lane for years. Our shop isn't very large, but it's packed with bags and boxes. When you walk in, the first thing you notice is the scent of the tea leaves. It’s thick and earthy. We don't spend much time on decorations or making things look perfect. The walls are a bit dusty and the shelves are heavy with stock. Most of our day is spent weighing out tea and talking to the regulars who come by. People from all over the neighborhood stop in. Some know exactly what they want, and others just want to see what came in recently. We get our shipments in big sacks, and then we have to sort through everything. Moazzamjahi Market is a landmark, so we get a lot of foot traffic, but we also have people who have been buying from us since my father’s time. It’s a family kind of thing, I guess. We just keep doing what we know. There’s no secret to it, just keeping the bins full and the scale working right. Lasa Lamsa Lane is our home, and we don't plan on going anywhere else. It is just the way we like to work.