Too busy to brew a cuppa? Try an Indian tea pill

A four-member team based in the north eastern state of Assam - the heart of India's tea industry - said their chewable pill and a health drink were now ready to cause a buzz on the world market.

"The pill is absolutely safe and can be chewed or placed under the tongue, besides drinking in the conventional manner by dipping the tablet in a cup of hot water," said one of the scientists, Mridul Hazarika.

"We are sure the tea tablets will be able to freshen and cheer up a person with nearly the same feeling as having a hot cup of brewed tea," he said.



The "Tea cola", meanwhile, will come in two varieties - green and black.

"The drink is made from pure natural tea extracts having a lot of medicinal properties in them," Hazarika said at the Tocklai Experimental Station in the tea growing town of Jorhat.

Firms from Britain, Australia and Iran have approached the Tocklai Station about selling the products, he said.