| Username |
Post |
| novice_guru |
Posted
on 11-Jun-04 09:12 PM
Ok everyone
I was going through a nicely written( though sometimes predicatable) piece about darjeeling tea. The writing piece in itself was not that impressive. (I apologize to the reader that I would have to use this word. The piece seems too good to be amateurish but fails to be a fullly professional piece. However I think the author is full of talent and can produce other things of beauty if s/he sets out for it). But I have to congratulate the author for kindling in me a desire to have tea like the good old days of Nepal. I have tried Coffee and shitty American tea here in US but they fail to create that tea experience of Nepal.
Oh God let me say what I want to say withouth ramblling further. Does any one know of a site in the US from where I can order Darjeeling(or Ilam) tea and "tea masala". I would greatly appreciate that.
Well the first paragraph was just to sound more intelligent than I am in desperate hope that someone will notice this thread and post what I desperately seek.
As you all can see I am pretty desperate.
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| ashu |
Posted
on 11-Jun-04 09:30 PM
It's interesting that you -- like almost all consumers -- EQUATE Ilam (Nepali) tea with Darjeeling tea.
Darjeeling is a well-established brand name for tea, while Nepal-produced tea does
NOT even register as a premium brand of any sort on most tea buyers' list around
the world. We Nepalis have not been able to DIFFERNTIATE our tea from that of
our competitors and then SELL our tea at higher prices.
Nepal Tea (from Ilam or from other parts of Eastern Nepal), though of superior
quality (according to some tea experts), LACKS the branding and the marketing
muscles that India's tea-bagaans (which have a rich history of their own) have
been providing to Darjeeling tea.
Meatime, Ilam tea gets sold cheaply in India, where it is re-packaged, branded and
sold at much higher prices as, well, Darjeeling tea.
[One of the biggest Indian business houses - The House of Tatas -- got out of tea-farming business altogether two years ago or so to focus only on sales, marketing
and distribution of [Indian] tea., and its revenues have gone up like crazy. Lesson? There is more money to be made in the marketing of tea than in its production.]
For some time, some tea growers in Nepal under the name of HOTPA -- Himalayan Orthodox Tea Producers Association -- are trying to obtain approprate international certification for their tea, brand it and then market it, but so far their success has
been mixed.
*****
Incidentally, there's a pasal in the heart of Ason in Kathmandu that sells some of the best chiya-masala on the planet.
oohi
"for God, country and Nepali chiya (though not necessarily in that order)"
ashu
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| novice_guru |
Posted
on 11-Jun-04 09:51 PM
Well ashu it is not that I equate darjeeling tea with Nepalese Illam tea. It is just that our family used to use those two back in Nepal. I would be happy if I get either one.
It was nice to read about the things that you knew but none of that was what I was seeking. Therefore the information value of your post for me was zero. It was a good read but not what I was seeking.I was just seeking a website where I can order the elusive tea and the associated tea masala.
Anyway you post was nice to read. I will post a theory of tea culture of the world here pretty soon, and all of us can indulge in the act of "mental masterbation"( from the film Annie Hall. This phrase is an amazing phrase as it truly defines what intellectual talk is all about).
The mental masturbation lover
Aren't we all mental masturbation lovers ?
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| ashu |
Posted
on 12-Jun-04 05:10 AM
Well, novice guru, I am a great believer in something called "serendipity" -- and by
that I mean, I believe that stimulating, intense yet free-flowing
conversations -- whether offline or online -- even on random/tangential topics can lead one to explore various interests, spark creativity and new ideas and basically lead one to look at certain things a bit differently while getting to know interested people in
that field . . .
My postings on Sajha, I think, reflect that whatever curiosity/interest I have about
the world, and, I hope, they also show my interest to share information with others
and learn from others even when I may disagree with some of others' ideas.
If you can't use my info, fine.
That's NOT the end of the world.
It so happens that I just saw that I have received emails from two OTHER Sajha folks, inquiring more about Nepali chiya. Just goes to prove what I mean.
Other than that, have fun.
oohi
"enjoying my third cup of Muna Gold Premium chiya this afternoon"
ashu
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| novice_guru |
Posted
on 12-Jun-04 03:22 PM
Haina Ashu ji yesto hurt sound garna bhayena ni.
I was trying wit and obviously by now you might have realized how bad that is. I am sorry if my coarse attempted humorous way of writing backfired. I guess it does in the beginning but gotta try harder.
So let me think what I know about tea.
Well I remember there was a chapter in our English course for SLC about tea. The story was that when tea and coffee became popular no one knew if tea and coffee was harmful to human health. So a King in some country that I don't remember right now decided to test it. He made two twins on death row be a part of his experiment. One of the twin was made to drink a cup of tea everyday while the other was made to drink a cup of coffee each day. The twins lived for a long time( 83 and 86 if my memory has not failed me). So the text claimed that this convinced everyone that tea and coffee was harmless.
Ah let me digress to the "My English Reader" of the SLC course. hahahah that book was such a classic. We had to know all the stories and had to answer ridiculously trivial question about the stupid questions in the text.
Some questions that I still remember
How Bhairabh Singh saved Ram Singh's life?
(and this is what my answer was used to be)
I do not give a fcuk about that.
(Well I wish I had written that answer in the SLC so that the examiners would realize the triviality of the whole thing).
Another pointless questions
Why did Ms. Rai go to the doctor?
Because she fancied the doctor.
What did the doctor do to Ms. Rai?
Well I have to ask Ms.Rai. But I have heard what he did was not nice.
Why could not Kiran stand up?
Because Kiran is a pig and does not know when to stop eating.
this is really testing my memory. let me try harder
What did Mr. Sharma say about developing the country?
That he would not give his useless opinion unless we pay his consultant fees.
Guys add to this what were the popular questions of the english reader
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| ranjit_rana109 |
Posted
on 12-Jun-04 06:52 PM
Novice Guruji,
Your inquiry tickled my fancy about BRANDING. This is a vast subject and interested person can do a DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in it. Branding has been with humanity form the dawn of time. Chinese, Romans, Arabs, Indians and much more ancient civilisations used branding for assuring the customers through trademarks in terms of symbol, sign, language, pictograph and much more. In Nepal the Lichibi rulers used their own patent in charcoal fired bricks to announce to the world about the origin of those bricks etc. In modern times, Australian farmers branded their cattles by burning the outer skin with red hot iron with the farmers name etc....
Novice Guruji, then BRANDING is a management practice that goes hand in hand with advertising, public relation and interlinked with strategic integrated marketing communications. The bottom line is that branding costs enormous money and time. What it also means is that a product is a product that provides only benefits to the customers in terms of utility. However, the brand goes beyond that and satisfies the needs and wants of the customer in utility and emotions. Remember "Diamonds are forever a girl's best friend." Remember also that you can sell the sausage and it will not be like selling the sizzle that connects emotionality per sociology of food and the sense of food that brings people together.
Having said all the soft side of feely and touchy things then "Darje Tea darlings" have been promoted by the British Raj. Who has promoted so called "Ilam Gold" dust tea apart from some fantoosh ECONOMIST.
I will tell you more about the tea ritual and mystery that goes with JAPANESE TEA KING EVENT CEREMONY. Does any one in ILAM do these CARNIVALE of senses??????
Yours truely
MASTER OF BRAND AND PRODUCT MANAGEMENT or Category Captain of lateral global marketing.
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| ranjit_rana109 |
Posted
on 12-Jun-04 07:16 PM
Spelling correction. Please read "from" the dawn of time and not "form" the dawn of time.
I think Nepalese serendipity seekers need to learn and earn the marvellous thing called enterprise. This basic value would then make Nepalese know how to do business like business. Why? Because, business is business is business.
To build brand then the due process and due dilligence is to DELVE INTO "DISCOVERY + BUILD STRATEGIES + ADVERTISE + COMMUNICATE BY USE OF PUBLIC RELATION."
This is how one builds a good brand like COCO COLA with heaps of money and time. "Would'nt it be nice" if ILAM GOLD dust reached this status?????????
Being big does not mean big brand need be a bully to drive small brands outof business. Likewise, small brand does not mean being silly either.
What it means is that small brand can still survive in niche focused market by capturing market shareof 5 to 10 percent.
After all no one is 100% totally brand loyal. Are any one loyal to Shree Panch Maharaja Dhiraj Gyanendra's Nepalese "CHUROTS?"
Customers in global/digitalised markets have their own brand repertoire of choices. Why? COZ. In the slow-cycle market of fast moving consumer goods like tea; customers are loyal to BRAND A, B, C, D, E, F, G and much more by decreasing percentage.
Can any one tell me being 100% brand loyal to any Nepalese chia? I mean even in nature men are not loyal to their own wives to show their wild oats to make their gene pool more strategically secure....
It is the only fatoosh ECONOMISTS ala self declared scientists of dismal choice make bizarre right wing nationalist claims for ILAM GOLD dust tea that is el cheapo....
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| ranjit_rana109 |
Posted
on 12-Jun-04 07:21 PM
Being Big does not mean the brand need be a bully!
Being Small does not mean being silly but a SMART BRAND!
S = Specific
M = Measurable
A = Accessible
R = Relevant
T = Time specific
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| novice_guru |
Posted
on 12-Jun-04 09:25 PM
I am really enjoying this discussion and I regret for not joining Sajha sooner. It is clearly evident that Sajha commands well thinking and intelligent people that other Nepali forums lack.
Ok enough of flattery not lets get to business.
Ranajit Ranaji(ji was added as it seems the common norm here) your thougts about branding was right. It does take a lot to make a brand. You were indeed right to point out the success of CocaCola to make a unique brand. But these days CocaCola is being superseded by the Pepsi brand(think all the sleek marketing). This is pretty impressive for a product that was made to imitate CocaCola. When imitators win the original in the race for consumers then we come to appreciate how important branding is.
Well the point I am trying to make is that brands can be brought down and replaced. I think the best strategy for Ilam tea would be to act as if Ilam tea was some kind of special tea only possible in Ilam. We only need a dumb celebrity to be a fan of this Ilam tea and soon entire America will be drinking Ilam tea instead of their "herbal tea". We could even claim that Ilam tea is good for the health. For this we need to have a fancy research conducted by a impressive sounding PHD.( The research can be secretly funded by Ilam tea manufacturers as is the norm here for so called advertising by pseudo research).
And that would make Ilam tea so "hot" that Americans would be dieing for it. And Nepal can be rich by selling Ilam tea. All of us will be rich. And then we will live happily ever after.
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| ranjit_rana109 |
Posted
on 13-Jun-04 07:03 PM
Mistake with COCA COLA was with not understanding the demographic shift in customer needs and wants. They made mistake in strategic management and marketing. It was further loss of reputation through production in the Republic of Czech etc.... Competition was increasing through COLA wars and other substitutes and other unrelated beverages and much more.
You are an entusiastic chap and could pursuade ILAM TEA GARDENERS the virtue of Strategic Marketing Initiatives. If they sink investment in this "must" activity then they will reap the GODLEN HARVEST of ILAM CHIA.
Actually they can brand ILAM the place to be as a Chia Tourist Destination. They can hire Elizabeth Hurley as the ILAM CHIA AMBASSADORESS or even ask Kylie Minogue to print name ILAM CHIA in her "LOVE ME KYLIE LINGERIES" OR ILAM TEA GARDENERS asking Elle "THE BODY" McPHERSON to print "ILAM CHIA" in her "BOOB TUBES" and much more. You see the place to be can be linked and sold through tie in with sex GODDESSES. Why? COZ. SEX SELLS SUCCESSFULLY. NO!!!!!!
Well, I will give you six out of ten for your inquisitiveness and studious inquiry. Forget the types of ECON GURU, who only know how to rally around economy being the KING OF SOCIAL SCIENCES. Give them O out of ten that I say....
That is my thought for today.
PS: PERCEPTIONS create attitudes for brand awareness and brand awareness creates brand preference and blah...blah...blah got me in this buzz....
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| ranjit_rana109 |
Posted
on 13-Jun-04 07:09 PM
ILAM CHIA need to learn to be better than the competitors in terms of distinctive capabilities to satisfy customers + No other competitors can imitate its distinctive "SUDDHA SEVAMAYA SWAD" + Their Brand satisfaction can be replicated in any cirumstances from customer service to brand recall and much much more. No!!!!!!
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| ranjit_rana109 |
Posted
on 13-Jun-04 07:17 PM
Bhupendra Sharma AKA BRAND GURU or Chakma Rato Falam le Ploleko Goru has gone CHUP...interesting in running away from the BRANDED DISCOURSE....
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| wateva |
Posted
on 14-Jun-04 08:50 AM
hehe... This is an amazing thread... keep it up people...
Well Novice guru... you did sound "more intelligent" from the first paragraph... alas! nobody has answered the real question for which this thread was started... Anyways welcome to Sajha... an interesting thread after ages... enjoy while it lasts!
Ranjit Rana... you are soooo cute dude... I dont think I could have enjoyed business strategy 101 had I learned it in class from some old prof...hehe
Please continue writing and all the tea lovers for god's sake someone tell novice where to FIND tea online offline....
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| ranjit_rana109 |
Posted
on 14-Jun-04 04:11 PM
THE GREEK/ROMAN GOD OF FINE WINE process women by sucking their boobs and say " I drink to that." Likewise, I am no SOKUBUS/INCUBUS OR GHOST THAT HAVE SEX WITH MEN OR WOMEN AT NIGHT. What I am is a mass/custom wine marketer depending if I like to micro segment or niche segment or counter segment my target markets or whatever....
What I have is a theory called "Kul Kul Pichka Theory." That is I learnt is fine Oz wine testing as a ritual in the sociology of fine foods. Well. one has to twirl the glass containing wine then smell the bouquet/aroma of the wine. Then one has to say in the nose the aroma/bouqet was melllow like rose or starwberry or 100000 types of smells or wahtever and then give point from Ladoo to to MAHA LADOO fit for Hatimaya Maha Tantrik Ganeshji symbolically 1008 or 10008 or 100008 and so on incremental proportion of 0+8 etc....
After this first ritual comes slurpping the wine in the palate with the extended tongue like a ferocious LUNATIC. After doing Kul Kul PICHKA then one has to spew or thuko the wine out. Then one has to say "in the palate" the wine tasted like honey, raspberry, musty mushroom, like leather or 1000000 or more ways then none of saying the wine was like doing a tonguey French kiss with a boldie virgin with a silver ring just waiting for me USA etc etc....
There you have it the mystery and ritual of wine tasting. Then the other one is about "TERROIR" or the territory (place of origin branding like French Champagne or Riverina wine region as a lust and fertile virgin mother territory to grow the varietal grape). This is also about the mystery of protecting intellectual property. Then this is what capitalism is all about. It contains individualism + Innovation + Entrepreneuralism and Branded Goru aka Bhupendra Sharma fails to address all the time with his ECON THREORY as if he is AMRYTYA SEN the NOBEL LAURATE that speak of human development potential index (UNDER RAJA NO ONE CAN BE AN ENTREPRENEUR AS HE IS THE ALPHA MALE UNDER THE OUTDATED HINDU HANUMAN SEVA BASED CASTE SOCIAL STRATIFIED CULTURAL VALUE SYSTEM).
I have been to Japan and learnt to do SOYA SAUCE tasting (did not like it as it was like el cheapo vinegar and aati nunilo and my tasty tongue had to be cleansed with expensive PACIFIC RAW OYSTER AND FRESH CREAM AND MILK plus peach and cream from lust green mountain dew laden grass fed COW milk). I have been to Japan and was humbled with their TEA MEDITATION CEREMONY. It is about servititude and the art of being a grand host for a grand ceremony ala celestial everlasting CHEERY BLOSSOM EVER GREEN MATSURI....
Do we have any such festivals in Nepal to match food with wine or as one Bhatmase Baje said "I don't like SOYA SAAS" as his last death wish was not to partake any thing Nunilo but his preference was for always GULIYO MAHA LADOOOS.
Can any one tell me what kinds of Nepalese festivals have such rituals with wine and food in terms of socilogy of fine wine and food blah...blah...blah....
Okay for today my BHITE NAMASKAR to you all as I now go to process my fine wine and extra virgin OLIVE NUT BUT FROM LEON OF SPAIN like a Bolero/Cavalero singing and dancing the FLAMENCO....NO!!!!!! That is business as business is always business....
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| Gyaneshwor |
Posted
on 15-Jun-04 11:56 AM
Novice-Guru,
http://www.peets.com/shop/tea.asp#NULL
Should the link not work look up Peets's Coffee & Tea. I order my tea from them.
Hope this helps
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| REAL MATRIX |
Posted
on 15-Jun-04 12:34 PM
Hey NG,
If you are in Boston go to Timeless tea on Newbury street. You will find tea from all over the world. Its on 278 or 280 Newbury street. Good Luck.
Real Matrix
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| novice_guru |
Posted
on 15-Jun-04 06:28 PM
Hey Gyaneshwor thanks a lot. Seems like I can even order Darjeeling tea right from the site. The price is quite steep though! But as they as "nahune mama bhanda kano mama bes".
But what's up with the ounce system. I do not understand why the United States is still stuck on the old system of measurement while the world follows the metric system. I feel like hitting them every time they talk about pounds and feets and Fahrenheit(hope got the spelling right!).
Honestly how much is a pound of tea. I cannot even imagine so Gyaneshwor dude as you order from the site would you please tell me that. How long does a pound of tea last ?
And finally is the tea sold by the site any good? Which one do you recommend ?
Anyway thanks for guiding me from confusion to knowledge
"asato ma sadgamaya"
btw Guys
Have you all realized that when Matrix3 closes( the final credit part) the song that plays in the background says
"asato ma sadgamaya"
"tamaso ma jyotirgamaya"
"mrtyor ma mrtam gamaya"
this Sanskrit sloka means
From delusion lead me to truth
From darkness lead me to light
From death lead me to immortality.
and is usually addressed to God. The whole of Matrix2 deified Neo and in the Matrix3 at the end it seems Neo graduated to the ranks of God. What a piece of crap? The first Matrix was so good and the second and third part spoiled all that.
I guess this train of thought started from the name "REAL MATRIX". oh predicatable and frail human mind!
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| Nattu |
Posted
on 16-Jun-04 11:23 AM
Jasari every single Darjeelingay represents BHAARATIYE MADHISEY, usai gari Darjeelingay "CHAAYE" represents BHAARAT. Aba ILAAM ko SWODESHI "CHIYA" nai mitho ni. Not only that, you can reuse ILAAM Ko chiya over and over again and you'll still get the same great taste and color. Ma ta sirf ILAAM ko chiya nai khaaney garchu. Tapai ni ??
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| ranjit_rana109 |
Posted
on 16-Jun-04 06:00 PM
What is LATERAL MARKETING?
Well, it is for CREATIVE DIRECTORS in ADVERTISING.
For example, FRESH FLOWER ARTIFICIAL FLOWER
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DIES____________________NEVER DIES
IN OTHER WORDS, LATERAL THINKING CAN create other than fresh flower maket. Artificial flower never dies.
Such strategies could make ILAM MUNA GOLD TEA DUST world famous like Shri Lankan Dimah Chai.
The followers of Plato are individual and individuals of USA like Bill Gates make the world a better place through serendipity called ENTERPRISE.
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| novice_guru |
Posted
on 16-Jun-04 11:37 PM
Well well what do we have here!
Now there are people that are accusing me of being a owner of this site and desperately trying to encourage discussion here. I wish I was a owner of this site and that this site made me a nice income. But mere wishing has no existence in the material world. The physical/material fact is that I have no connection with this site other that in the capacity of a poster( and that too of a new one).
Now you can cook up some conspiracy theory and refise to believe what I say. Well go ahead. At least that would be interesting for you( though certainly fanciful and false).
As regards the nature of my postings( Someone wrote rather condenscendingly that my posts have no central theme). Well I guess that can be said almost all people here. Well I certainly do not come here to write Philosophy papers or lead a new cult but to discuss some light things. So it is in the very nature in these light discussions that you are following a random path.
"I believe that stimulating, intense yet free-flowing
conversations -- whether offline or online -- even on random/tangential topics can lead one to explore various interests, spark creativity and new ideas and basically lead one to look at certain things a bit differently while getting to know interested people in
that field . . ." (quoted from another author in this thread)
I believe this puts what a lot of us here do in very nice words.
well i guess none of this will make any sense even to me tomorrow as I am so sleepy right now
GOOD NIGHT
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| ranjit_rana109 |
Posted
on 17-Jun-04 04:53 PM
Hot Hot Hot Guru Novice and well replied.
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