Assam's second flush has come in at high quality this year on favourable weather, even as a dry start cut the early crop sharply, the business newspaper BusinessLine reported on June 6.

Bidyananda Barkakoty, adviser of the North Eastern Tea Association, a growers' body, said favourable weather had produced an excellent crop. In recent years erratic weather had shortened the pure second-flush window, he said. This year the weather held.

The second flush is the prized harvest. Assam picks about 100 million kilograms of it a year, roughly 15% of total output, and it carries the bold, full-bodied, brisk and malty cup the Brahmaputra valley is known for, BusinessLine reported.

The early crop was the thin part. Production over January to March ran about 38% below the same quarter last year, after a near-rainless start, and the January-to-May figure is set to come in well short too, BusinessLine reported. Output in the first quarter of 2025 was unusually high, so part of the gap is the comparison.

What came through has met strong demand. The average price of CTC tea at the Guwahati Tea Auction Centre between April 1 and May 31 was Rs 33.86 a kilogram higher than the same stretch last year, BusinessLine reported. Green leaf with a 45% fine-leaf count fetched around Rs 45 a kilogram, and leaf above 50% commanded Rs 50 or more, Barkakoty said.

By weight and measure: less tea this year, dearer, and good. The cup is brisk, malty, and takes milk, which is the whole job.

Sources: BusinessLine, "Favourable weather brews high-quality second flush tea in Assam this year" (June 6, 2026).