In 2008, Imphal-based Ragesh Keisham’s family was squashed under a heap of obligation and needed to auction almost everything to treat his embraced sister. In any case, she in the end lost her fight to leukemia.

With the Manipuri family living hand-to-mouth, Ragesh expected to discover an exit plan. He took a stab at different organizations, including information digitisation and providing bamboo saplings to Uttarakhand, however with no achievement.

He required an endeavor that would produce critical pay. However, any business that would require power was impossible since it was accessible for simply three to four hours every day in the locale.

The lone conceivable source Ragesh saw was agribusiness. It was under these desperate conditions that he thought of an out-of-the-crate thought to make tea out of lemongrass.

In 2011, he dispatched the CC Tea brand under the parent organization SuiGeneris Agronomy, which he set up in 2010.

“I made 200 bundles of the tea myself and dispatched CC Tea. Inside five minutes, each of the 200 parcels were sold locally. Our underlying venture was around Rs 5 lakh. Today, with the fame of our lemongrass tea, the brand has developed and recorded Rs 8 crore turnover in 2019-20,” he says in a meeting with SMBStory.

At the point when Ragesh was thinking about an agrarian endeavor, he reached a fragrant researcher who recommended developing lemongrass. As per the researcher, there was a flourishing business sector for the oil separated from the tropical plant.

A companion from Indonesia sent Ragesh 10,000 slips of lemongrass, and he started investigating it in a one-section of land plot of land in Leimakhong — around 20 km from Imphal.

“The following eighteen months was spent in exploration, experimentation, and anticipating clearances on credit applications I made to purchase gear for oil extraction. This was a period loaded up with tension and mounting worries over our family unit costs. With no credit in transit, paying special mind to elective utilization of the lemongrass was my solitary alternative,” he says.

Ragesh visited the state library in Imphal for additional exploration and read that lemongrass was called ‘fever grass’ in Brazil, due to a bubbled lemongrass blend made in the South American country to fix fever.

It planted a thought in Ragesh that he could make a drink out of lemongrass with genuine medical advantages. To test the thought, he took some new leaves, squashed it, and made the tea for himself.

“Despite the fact that it was a wonderful shade of green, the tea tasted unpleasant. However, I discovered that the terrible taste and smell were the aftereffect of not after the privilege drying convention. I sorted out an answer for dry the leaves appropriately, and fixed the awful taste,” he says.

Happy with the lemongrass tea, Ragesh started promoting it in schools, universities, places of worship, and clubs across Imphal with an extraordinary accentuation on its potential medical advantages. “In the interim, my better half offered all her gems to help me purchase bundling material for the tea,” he adds.

CC Tea takes neighborhood ranches on a rent, utilizes many oppressed and jobless individuals, and develops lemongrass. When the leaves are reaped, they are shipped off the CC Tea processing plant where the best leaves are isolated from the rest.

At that point, there is a three-way washing measure, following which the leaves are shipped off the diffused drying shed. The leaves are left there for 24 to 48 hours, contingent upon the climate conditions.

“During this cycle, the dampness level settles at 40%. At that point, the leaves are shipped off the hot air blower, where they are dried at a specific temperature that doesn’t slaughter the healthy benefit,” Ragesh says.

He adds, “The leaves are dried at a lower temperature, in spite of the fact that the cycle accepts a little more as the dietary benefit stays flawless. In most other tea items, the healthy benefit is worn out.”

When the leaves are dried appropriately, they are shipped off the cutting office. The finished products, estimating somewhere in the range of one and two millimeters, are shipped off the bundling group, managing the 100 gms and 150 gms granule parcels. The powder is shipped off the tea pack machine, where pockets are made by hand.

CC Tea as of now works with 52 full-time representatives and 1500 low maintenance laborers.

“We utilize next to no mechanization in the process since we put stock in producing work for local people. As we scale, we expect to keep creating more noteworthy business, yet sooner or later, we are eager to acquaint robotization with a restricted degree,” Ragesh says.

CC Tea’s parent organization SuiGeneris claims and oversees 350 sections of land of lemongrass fields in Imphal. It has obtained an extra 500 sections of land for development, and as of now, is extending creation to satisfy the developing need for CC Tea.