Sancha Tea Boutique

In 1981 a single tea store opened in the lanes of Old Delhi under the name Aap Ki Pasand, Your Choice. It was founded by Sanjay Kapur, a tea taster who had already spent years inside tea companies and estates, and that shop became SAN-CHA. The original gallery is still there, on Netaji Subhash Marg in Daryaganj; the Delhi boutiques added since are in Nexus Select Citywalk in Saket and in the Santushti arcade in Chanakyapuri. A second generation of the family runs it today, across sixteen boutiques nationwide.

Around a hundred teas sit on the list, and the counter pours tastings. The house buys from gardens registered with the Indian Tea Association and selects by clonal cultivar — Darjeeling clones such as AV2, P312 and B157 — and by flush, first, second or autumnal. Prices run from the Original Masala Chai and the Londoners Earl Grey at ₹ 400 for 100 g up through the Rare Darjeeling second flush Premier Cru at ₹ 800 for 100 g, a Lapsang Souchong and a Japanese genmaicha at ₹ 750 for 50 g, and a Single Malt Assam Grand Cru at ₹ 900.

Everything is blended and packed at the company's own facility in Noida, under temperature and humidity control and in small batches. Next to the Indian estates there is an imported collection: Japanese matcha, hojicha and genmaicha, Chinese pu-erh, jasmine and dragon pearls. The rest of the shop is teaware and gifting — measuring spoons, infusers, pots, kettles and boxed sets — and the format runs from loose leaf to pyramid bags. The three Delhi addresses keep different hours: the mall counter stays open until ten at night.