AGRÍCOLA HIMALAYA LAUNCHES IN COLOMBIA: || BITACO UNIQUE COLOMBIAN TEA, THE FIRST TEA OF ORIGINS

• This product has been exported since November 2016to the United States, Canada, 6 countries in Europe and 6 countries in Latin America.
• Its individual presentation is a novelty to the national market.
• Its produced in the most advanced tea plant in Latin America, located in Bitaco, Valle del Cauca.
• Agrícola Himalaya has as a fundamental principal for the production of sustainable mountain tea, focused on the ecological management of the soil.

After many years of research and development, Agricola Himalaya launches to the national market the first tea of Colombian origins, called Bitaco Unique Colombian Tea.

This new product is a loose leaf tea, produced in the only tea plantation in Colombia, which is located in the rural area of Bitaco, La Cumbre municipality in Valle del Cauca, with the soil characteristics and the climate where it grows, its a sweet product because of its origins, with honey flavour notes similar to sugar canes, low in astringency and full of body.

In the world of speciality teas, the denomination of origin has a connotation of quality and originality, in which, depending in the geographical location of the tea plantation, the tea will have unique flavour notes and different to the rest of  teas around the world, if also the same process was done. This singularity in the origin of raw materials gives Bitaco Tea’s a sweet flavour note, fruity and soft that make it stand apart from other teas in other geographical locations, that being said Bitaco is the first and unique tea with Colombina origins.

 The Bitaco consumers are interested in a product with history, that are not influenced by the price, but understand and appreciate the added value that the product could provide. People with a demanding taste buds that are not easily satisfied with flavours of basic taste profiles in their mouth, that dare to try quality products and are ready to pay a little extra for a premium product. People that look to obtain a higher status at the time of drinking a hot beverage.

In Colombia Bitaco’s tea is available in 3 flavours: Black Tea, Green Tea, and Cacao Kisses. Take in mind that the last one mentioned was awarded as the best black tea blend in the Global Tea Championships, that was carried out in March of 2017 and that judges the best teas produced in the world.

For Andres Velasco, General Manager of Agricola Himalaya: ‘The launch of this product puts Colombia in a global context in the global tea market. The experienced consumer already have tried it and was extremely satisfied with Bitaco’s quality. We are sure that from now on the Colombian tea development will have a different launch of its first tea from Colombian origins.’

Bitaco Unique Colombian Tea have already been exported to the following markets:

• Latin America: Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, Chile, Paraguay y Bolivia.
• North America: United States and Canada
• Europe: Germany, England, Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain and France

In this essence it is present in specialized tea shops, high quality restaurants and premium Hotels.

Bitaco will arrive to the consumer in an attractive and practical way to consume, which will be pyramid bags, which are the best options to keep the tea leaf as a whole, this will give the consumer a quality cup, it will give an infusion of tea leafs that were very well processed and rolled. Also the material used for the bags will be nylon, which will give a better infusion and wont allow any sediments in the cup. The 20 pyramid bags are packaged in a special aluminum foil bag, which helps with the excellent preservation of the organoleptic conditions of the tea. This product is available in 2 presentations: box with 20 pyramid bags and in a bulk can of 50 grams of tea.

Global Competition.

 The main producers of tea in the world are China, India and Kenya. China is the biggest producer in the world and have a great variety of tea types in its portfolio. They produce green teas, black teas, red teas,  oolong teas and many others. Also there is a great variety of quality teas.

China produces great volumes of green and black tea in CTC, but has great variety of special teas, which can reach a very expensive sale price. On the other hand, India is known for producing one of the best black teas in the world, its well known tea state is Darjeeling, for its fine leafs, infusion quality and unique flavour notes.

For the market chosen by the Bitaco Tea brand, which is the world special tea markets, we find a diversified competition, as well its traditional producers like India, China and Japan exist, there is also other countries producing very high quality teas like Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Nepal and Indonesia.

 Currently countries like Argentina, Ecuador and Brazil are producing tea, however they are not focused in the market of special teas, but they are more focused in the production of great volumes of tea. For example Argentina is an great producer of tea (9th in world ranking) where the total of its product is CTC type and is sold for making Iced Teas or RTD Teas, where the quality of the leaf and unique flavour notes are not very relevant.