Idea 219 of 500. Cluster 10: Tea, beyond the auction
Rare and aged Ceylon teas, sold at auction to collectors the way Pu-erh is
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
Find out from 3 estate managers whether they hold old stock from a notable year that was never sold, and buy a small quantity of each. Store it properly, taste it with a taster, and offer 10 sealed tins in an online sale to collectors of aged tea. The proof is the highest price reached and the names of the bidders.
- Who pays first
- A collector of aged teas who already pays high prices for vintage Pu-erh and wants a rare origin nobody else in the circle owns.
- What leaves today
- Ceylon tea is sold young at the auction as a commodity, so none of it earns the premium that age and rarity bring elsewhere.
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 219 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.