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TEA
TASTER
Though not a very
well known career option,but at the same time very interesting job is
of the tea taster.Tea Tasters are people who differentiate between the
various qualities of tea and help to brand and market the product.
Entry:The
job does not have much to do with high educational qualifications.Therefore,the
minimum qualification required to get admission in a training institute
is 10 or 10+2.There are a few institutes who provide training in this
field.
Institutes
for Training:
1.Dipras Institute of Professional studies FE 477,Sector-III,Salt Lake
City,Kolkata-7000091.
2.Darjeeling Tea Research
and Management Association,Kadamtala-734433.
3.Assam Darjeeling Tea Research
Centre,Kurseong,Darjeeling-734203(West Bengal) ->UPASI Tea Research Institute,Nirar
Dam BPO,Valaparai-642127(Tamil Nadu) .
If you are interested
you must verify the courses and other details directly from the institutes.Generally
the employed Tea Tasters are trained in house after being selected as
potential tea tasters.
All tea tasters have
to go through vigorous training to be able to assess the intrinsic value
of the tea,its strength,briskness,fullness,colour like coppery or bright
red.Physical appearance like whether it is blackish or brownish or the
tea particles are evev mixed in size,whether the tea has fibre which makes
it unattractive to the buyer;in case of orthodox tea like non-CTC tea
the tip content,colour of the tips which maybe silvery or golden,stalk
content and well twisted or not,are important factors.
Job
Profile:A tea taster uses his sharp sense of sight,smell,touch
and taste while judging the quality of tea.Though this calls for natural
talents but at the same time.these people have to be trained to make their
palates proficient enough to register the minute differences.He/she checks
the size and evenness of the dry leaf to verify whether the sample possess
ample granulation or not.The taster examines the infused leaf to judge
its colour,its infirmity and brightness.The colour,evenness of infusion
and its nose are an index to the intrinsic value of the brew.After all
these,the taster tastes the liquor by taking a sip from the cup.In a split
second the palate registers a flavour,briskness and strength.The taster
is ready with his/her report.To keep the palate and the taste buds in
supreme condition,the taster has to keep himself away from smoking and
eating spicy food.
Financial
Benefits:A good taster can earn upto Rs.40,000 per month or
more. Most of the people who join this profession have some connection
in tea industry either their parents are connected with tea-industry or
their friends have joined teabroking or buying or buying firm.Before,reading
this piece,even you were not aware of this particular job!isn't it?
Future:India
is the largest tea producing country in the world and its share of the
total world tea exports is about 15 percent.So long as science does not
bring in a robot or a computerized laboratory,as has happened in the field
of medical science,the scope of this career is immense
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