shares his 35 years' diverse tea experience and expertise by mentoring, advising and hand-holding established and emerging brands from product to procurement, from tasting to blending and from innovation to intelligence.
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About the Bald Man of Tea
A seasoned tea-taster & blender
Ketan Desai has worked across the tea value-chain from plucking to packing and from blending to branding with a unique understanding ranging from pure teas to infusions and tisanes.
Amongst the first to travel and station himself in Moscow after the fall of the USSR. Ketan was instrumental in exporting Indian teas to International Tea House under their brand OLD MOSCOW, and to May Company under their brand MAISKII CHAI and ARJUNA.
Teauction.com was the world’s first B2B online public auction of teas in India. After its launch in India, Ketan took it to Sri Lanka through a JV with Forbes & Walker Ltd, Bangladesh with Unity Tea Brokers and Indonesia with PT Chakra.
For the first time, tea was elevated from a commodity product to a premium experience at Cha. Ketan conducted tea-tasting workshops and engaging events inviting local artists.
Expertise & Experience
With a rich and diverse experience of over three decades, his niche expertise is product and experience, product for experience and product as experience.
From matching pure tea blends to creating innovative infusions, he has developed award-winning formulations in a magical melange of tea, spices, flowers and fruits.
Always keenly interested in trends, he tracks the emergence of new products from Blue tea to Boba tea and from Matcha to Muscatel.
A passionate raconteur and story-teller, he conducts tea workshops regaling participants with amusing stories while explaining the finer nuances of tea amidst live tea-tasting sessions. Always good with words, he writes educational content from blogs to books that is as engaging as it is entertaining and enjoyable.
He now works with selective brands to remain relevant, connected and engaged with new-age consumers with his consulting and advisory services.
Milk first or last? The Science, The Stories…and the Slurping!
The Tea in first (TIF) and the Milk in First (MIF) debate has been raging for more than two centuries, beginning with lively debates and ending with vehement disagreements.
Many people believe that tea is acidic, but the reality is more nuanced than a simple yes or no. Let's delve into the science behind tea's acidity and debunk some common misconceptions.