DOLLY ROY is the original "cha woman" of Calcutta. An effervescent, walking-talking encyclopedia on teas, happiest when discussing the first flushes of Darjeeling over a �cuppa with strangers. She knows her teas like connoisseurs of single malts know their whiskies. And I'm not surprised, because Dolly's been India's first woman tea taster and auctioneer. So if you are sharing a �cuppa with her, be prepared to drink tea Dolly's way. Which is black. Without sugar and milk. "Adding milk to tea is like adding teardrops," she said with finality. Fortunately for you, the tea will be Darjeeling's finest. It is Dolly's favourite, and, apparently, best had that way.

I met her through a mutual friend at her quaint little tea shop at Dakshinapan Shopping Centre in Gariahat. Tea, for me, without sugar and milk tastes awfully like medicine. Even Darjeeling's finest. And the best way to have medicine is to gulp it down quickly. I drained my cup under Dolly's disapproving gaze. She took time over her tea, telling me: "The Bengali has three vices. Fish, tea and mishti doi." That being the case, then I would say Dolly is hooked good and proper. She is a hardcore tea drinker. "Twenty cups or more... and at the drop of a hat," she revealed. "I don't mind who makes the tea, but my first cup in the morning must be my own. I'm particular about that."

Much before she set up her tea shop in 1988 (it's listed in Lonely Planet), Dolly was promoting Indian teas in Europe and the US for the Tea Board of India. Then she came back and joined a tea company in Calcutta, officiating as their tea taster and auctioneer from1979 onwards. Now she sells teas from all the big centres of the country... Darjeeling, Assam, Nilgiri, and even from lesser known places in Arunachal Pradesh, Dooars, Terai, the Kangra Valley, Orissa, and also Kerala. "Kerala," I said in surprise. "Yes, why not," asked Dolly. "Tea is grown in some non-traditional areas of India too. Like Bihar and Dehradun. The teas here have their own distinctive flavours and characters."

Her tea shop is unique in that it not only offers these fine varieties of teas, but it also allows the customer to taste the teas before they buy them. Dolly provides friendly expertise and advise. There is also an exciting menu of tea drinks. She offers 15 flavours in cold teas and 28 in hot teas. The cold teas range from the ubiquitous iced tea (Rs. 10) that is lemony, icy and minty in taste, to an expensive (Rs. 35) tutti frutti tea that is made with ice-cream, fruit and jam. There are also tea shakes, floats and slushes, and a tea punch laced with ginger ale and lemonade. The mango special is most popular. It is tea made with raw, green mango. And there's lemon barley tea which, Dolly says, Burmese make a meal of!

The hot teas are more the refreshing cuppa, and top of Dolly's menu are the varieties from Darjeeling. The first and second flushes. Light, bright and aromatic, and mellow, sweet-rich and mature respectively. "The first flush means the first picking of the tea leaves," Dolly said. That's how teas are graded. And you can have whole leaf, broken and fanning dust teas. Or the CTC, which is crushed, torn and curled leaves.

There are �orthodox teas� from Assam, Nilgiri, Kangra, Orissa and Arunachal Pradesh. What is orthodox is the manner the tea leaves are weathered, rolled, fermented, dried, sorted and packed. And there are green teas, pale and light and apparently good for the heart, in which the fermenting process is cut out completely. Plus oolong teas, flavoury and smoky, semi-fermented and sometimes hand-rolled. Even an organic tea, grown naturally, no pesticides and insecticides sprayed on the tea plant.

The hot tea menu has lemon and spicy lemon, and ginger tea with or without milk. There is also a spicy, gingery tea in which masala chai powder is mixed with ginger, and a green ginger. Tea Shalimar is with a dash of orange. The Kashmiri kahwa is with butter and almonds and, like the cold lemon barley tea, quite a meal by itself. And there is cocoa, cardamom tea and a drink called 100 Yards whose definition is "a masala chai stretched to perfection".

I asked Dolly to name her top five teas, and she promptly replied: "All Darjeelings!" But she is fond of Sri Lankan teas, too, and the second, summer flush of Assam, which produces a golden tipped, very good tea. "People talk about the teas from Indonesia and China, but the top five are Indian. We produce the best teas in the world because we have the necessary soil, altitude and climate for this."

Dolly's fascination with the beverage goes back to the time she studied in Darjeeling among the fragrant tea gardens and had schoolmates and friends whose fathers owned tea plantations. Her own father was not in the tea business. He was a doctor. But all his patients were tea factory people. "Having grown up among tea and promoted tea overseas after that for so many years, I have developed an affinity for it," explained Dolly.

"It's strange, but an Indian is more Indian outside his country. He loves to talk about it. And here I was promoting a product that is the pride of the nation and the largest foreign exchange earner." Tea is traditionally sold in brown paper packets, but Dolly sources her teas from producers and then gift packs them in terracotta, bamboo and cane boxes for customers. "The idea is to try and give tea a different class," she said. "It is the cheapest beverage after water, but I try to dress tea up like a bride!"

Dolly�s Tea Shop,
Dakshinapan,
Shop G-62, 2,
Gariahat Road (South),
Calcutta 700 068.
Tel: 422 8421.
E-mail: [email protected]