I’ll go for the champagne instead, can’t afford this cuppa (Picture: CEN) 
 
 Tea with or without milk has for centuries been the drink of all British folk from the Duke in his palace to the everyday man in his flat. 
 
 However, one tea plantation is selling a product so rare that only those with seriously large pockets will be able to sip this brew with their macaroons and Battenburg. 
 
 Makaibari Estate in Eastern India manufactures this one particular blend in only one day and only allowed three buyers from Britain, Japan and the USA to purchase it. 
 
 It set back these deep-pocketed representatives nearly £1,400 per kilo and would cost someone £7 per cup if brewed at home. 
 
 According to Darjeeling tea experts it is the most expensive tea ever sold. 
 
 Rudra Chatterjee from the estate said of the brew: ‘This is a unique, organic hand made semi-fermented light Oolong tea which perfectly captures the essence of summer.’ 
 
 On five kilos being bought by the UK’s Hampstead Tea and Coffee he said: ‘We are delighted that some of this very special tea is going to Britain because we know that the British, more probably than anyone else in the world, love and appreciate good tea.’ ||||| KOLKATA: Come June 21 and a buyer in Coimbatore will be able to purchase premium Darjeeling tea at the click of a mouse while a seller sitting somewhere in Kolkata will get a fair price for the commodity.All thanks to the pan-India eauction system unveiled on Tuesday by Union commerce secretary Rita Teaotia in Kolkata. About 2.8 million kg of Darjeeling tea is offered in auctions and traded manually.All other varieties of tea such as CTC, dust and orthodox are now traded through the e-auction platform. There are seven registered e-auction centres in the country — Kolkata, Siliguri, Guwahati , Jalpaiguri, Coonoor and Cochin — where auctions are conducted through the electronic platform. About 534 million kg of tea is sold through the e-auction system. India produces more than 1,200 million kg of tea annually. Though the electronic auction system is being run by the auction centres, it is beset with problems such as prevalence of different auction rules that make it complicated for a buyer. In addition, a buyer or a seller registered with one auction centre cannot participate in other auction centres."The new system will allow a registered buyer or seller of tea with any one of the seven auction centres to seamlessly participate in other auction centres. The new system will help in better price recovery," said Teaotia. The move comes at a time when prices of tea have gone up by 15% this month as supply dwindled due to a crop loss in April.
– Some of the world's most expensive tea is grown in Darjeeling, India, but only sold to large tea houses in private weekly auctions. Next month, that 150-year-old tradition will come to an end. For the first time, Darjeeling tea will be sold online in new pan-India e-auctions beginning June 21, reports the Economic Times. India has been auctioning tea online since 2008, but Darjeeling tea has never been included, per Quartz. India's commerce secretary says "the new system will help in better price recovery," as an April crop loss caused prices to jump 15%. Anyone who registers with one of seven auction centers will be eligible to bid, but be sure to have your checkbook ready. "The teas are very fine and the bidding prices can shoot up very quickly," a tea estate manager says. "It involves a lot of money." A kilogram of Darjeeling tea sold for $1,850 in 2014. That means a single cup would've cost close to $10, reports Metro. Average prices, however, range from $8 to $9 per kilogram. Some 200 tea traders are protesting the new system over fears that it will crush small buyers, reports Bihar Prabha.