Now, pamper yourself with a cup of hand rolled tea grown in Eco Park

It may sound unbelievable but the Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) jointly with Andrew Yule has started producing tea at Eco Park.

Next time you visit Eco Park, you must drop in at the tea lounge and taste the hand rolled tea. HIDCO is considering a proposal to set up a tea museum or a unit to demonstrate tea production at Eco Park. Eco Park is the only urban park in the country that produces tea.

Sometime back, HIDCO officials had got in touch with the soil scientists at Bidhanchandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya with a proposal to set up a tea garden at Eco Park. There is a small arena where tea is grown at the Agricultural university and the HIDCO officials approached the university authorities with a view to replicate the method.

After examination, it was found that the soil at Eco Park was not congenial for production of tea.

The tea garden, which is a collaborative venture of Andrew Yule and HIDCO, has come up on three acre of land at Eco Park. Andrew Yule has provided the earth, saplings and technical support while the gardening and workers were provided by HIDCO. Initially, it was found that the tea leaves could not bear the unbearable heat during summer and sheds were set up which had affected their growth. Later, different techniques using straw was used to save the leaves from sunrays during summer. The method yielded results and the tea from the garden is now ready for consumption.

A tea lounge has been set up which is being run by Andrew Yule. The lounge has been designed by well known architect Dulal Mukherjee and Associates and set up by the engineers of HIDCO. Debashis Sen, chairman of HIDCO said tea from the garden of Eco Park has been hand rolled and processed as ready to use tea bags. A few days ago, Sushil Munshi, CMD, Andrew Yule met Debashis Sen and handed over two boxes containing Eco Park's hand rolled tea.

Eco Park, named as Prakriti Tirtha, is the brain child of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. After coming to power in 2011, she urged the HIDCO officials to use the land covering 480 acre and with surrounding waterbody covering around 112 acres. The Eco Park is considered to be the finest urban park in eastern India with a footfall of over 75 lakh since its inception in 2012.