Idea 205 of 500. Cluster 10: Tea, beyond the auction
Matcha-style ground green tea from the upcountry, for cafés
The mechanism, from the book
The Colombo auction sells tea by the lot to a buyer who blends it under his own name. Every step after the auction is where the money is, and every step can be done here by somebody who is not a plantation company.
Every idea in cluster 10 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Grind a small quantity of upcountry green tea to a fine powder, pack 10 sample pouches, and take them to the owners of 10 cafés that already sell matcha lattes. Ask them to make one and tell you, honestly, how it compares and what they would pay per kilo. The proof is a price per kilo and one café willing to take a trial order.
- Who pays first
- A café owner who already sells matcha drinks and would switch part of the menu to a traceable, different green tea if the price and colour work.
- What leaves today
- Green tea from the upcountry is sold as leaf at leaf prices, while the café trade pays far more for ground tea from other countries.
The idea and the mechanism are from the book. The first step was written for this site as a suggestion; if you know a better one, say so.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
The only test any idea on this site has to pass. The four rules that go with it are here.
In the book
- Ch. ElevenThe Mechanisms
The auction and every step after it - Ch. TwoAn Island Nobody Has Counted
Tea whose name the world has known for 200 years
More from cluster 10
- 201Single-estate teas sold direct to consumers abroad by subscription, with the estate's story
- 202A tea sommelier course in Nuwara Eliya, certified, for the hotel trade of the world
- 203Tea tasting rooms in Kandy, Ella and Colombo run like wine bars
- 204Cold-brew and sparkling Ceylon tea in cans for the Gulf and Asia
- 206Tea cosmetics: creams and serums with a named estate's extract
- 207A picking-and-processing day at a factory sold as an experience, with your own kilo at the end
Idea 205 of the 500 in the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? Every one can be started by one person, one family or one small firm.