Idea 211 of 500. Cluster 10: Tea, beyond the auction
Blending workshops for Sri Lankans abroad in their own kitchens: a kit, a video, three estates in a box
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
Put together 10 kits by hand: 3 estate teas in small pouches, empty tins, a scoop and a card with blending ratios. Record a 5-minute video on your phone showing how to blend them. Offer the kit to Sri Lankan families you know in London, Melbourne or Toronto as a gift for a parent. The proof is 10 sold and how many ask for a refill.
- Who pays first
- A son or daughter abroad buying a gift for a parent who drinks tea every day and misses the hills they grew up near.
- What leaves today
- Sri Lankan homes abroad drink Ceylon tea blended and packed under foreign names, so the island loses the margin on its own people's daily cup.
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
- 205Matcha-style ground green tea from the upcountry, for cafés
- 206Tea cosmetics: creams and serums with a named estate's extract
Idea 211 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.