Sancha Tea Boutique

Sancha's own history starts in 1981, when a single tea store opened in the lanes of Old Delhi under the name Aap Ki Pasand, "your choice". The founder, Sanjay Kapur, describes himself as a master tea taster with a career of more than fifty years, and the company now calls itself India's only dedicated tea retail boutique chain, with fifteen stores across Delhi, Gurugram, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Jaipur and Agra. Blending is done at its own facility in Noida, from estates registered with the Indian Tea Association.

Bengaluru has three of the fifteen. The one to start with is the ground floor of Lavelle Regency on Lavelle Road, in the business district, open every day from 11:00 to 20:00; the other two are counters in Phoenix Mall of Asia in Hebbal and Phoenix Marketcity on Whitefield Road, both open until 22:00. The house rule is the same at all three: a complimentary tasting served in fine china, with no obligation to buy, and staff trained to walk you through each tea's origin and how to brew it. Every purchase leaves in the house gift bag.

The range is around a hundred teas: white, green and black, masala chai blends, herbal infusions and a Chinese and Japanese shelf that is unusual for an Indian chain. The Darjeeling second flush and the single-malt Assam are the reason to visit; the Wuyi oolong, the jasmine pearls and the ceremonial matcha are the reason to stay. Everything comes in 50 g or 100 g tins and caddies, and the same catalogue ships from the website across India.