Brewing Change by Hand: Mina’s Tea Story from Karbi Hills

On the undulating slopes of Karbi Anglong, where the forests of Kaziranga touch the hills, a quiet revolution is brewing in six bighas of land. At its heart is a woman named Mina Takbipi, whose determination and hard work have turned her into a symbol of self-reliance for her community.

Three years ago, Mina began cultivating tea on her small plot, initially selling raw leaves to local traders. But soon, she dared to go further—handcrafting her own teas, from black to green, without a single machine. Today, her modest backyard operation produces green tea, orthodox tea and other varieties, dried painstakingly under the sun or smoke, entirely by hand.

“I first used to sell or make only black tea,” Mina recalls. “But in 2022, with the training I received from NGO Aaranyak, I learned to make green tea. I also taught 4–5 women from my village, and now they too can earn for their homes. We do everything by hand. It takes two to three days for the leaves to dry. If the sun shines, it’s quicker. But without machines, large-scale production is impossible.”

Her tea is sold in small quantities, without branding, at local markets. Buyers know it for its authenticity rather than its packaging. Alongside her tea garden, Mina’s daughter runs a camping site—‘Camp Nampi’—inside the plantation, where visitors are shown the traditional, laborious methods of tea-making. Tourists who come to camp leave not just with memories of Karbi Anglong’s hills but also with the taste of tea nurtured by hand and sweat.

Yet, despite her innovation and the social impact of creating livelihoods for other women, Mina’s story is not one of recognition but of neglect. For all her efforts, she has received no support from the government. 

“If I had a machine, I could produce more tea. But with hands alone, it’s not possible,” she pleads. “So far, only Aaranyak has stepped forward. I appeal to the government to help us with machines, so that this work can grow.”

Her words reflect a broader truth across Assam’s tea belt: small growers, particularly women, remain invisible in the larger discourse of tea as an industry, even as they embody resilience and entrepreneurship. While corporate gardens export Assam’s tea worldwide, grassroots cultivators like Mina are left to dry their leaves on bamboo trays, struggling to scale up without infrastructure.

What Mina has created, however, is much more than just tea. She has nurtured a model of grassroots empowerment, showing how a woman in Karbi Hills can blend agriculture with tourism, tradition with enterprise. In an era when rural employment is fragile, her initiative is quietly transformative.

Yet, without institutional backing, it risks plateauing. A machine that costs a few lakhs could multiply her production, bring her teas into the branded market, and inspire hundreds more women. But for now, Mina waits, her hands busy rolling leaves, her eyes on the hills, her voice carrying a plea that echoes far beyond Karbi Anglong: “We are capable of working hard. We just need support.”

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