Idea 216 of 500. Cluster 10: Tea, beyond the auction
Kombucha from Ceylon black tea, which the health shops of Europe already sell at ten times the tea's price
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
Ferment 3 batches of kombucha from a named estate's black tea, bottle 40, and give them to the owners of 5 health shops or cafés to sell or taste. Ask what price they would put on the shelf and whether they would reorder. Note which batch they choose. The proof is a shelf price and a reorder.
- Who pays first
- A health shop or café owner who already stocks imported kombucha and would take a local one made from the island's own tea.
- What leaves today
- Ceylon black tea is sold as cheap leaf to kombucha brewers abroad, who take the whole margin between the leaf and the bottle.
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 216 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.