Just about everything in Nepal happens <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/chiampagne">over a cup of चिया</a>. Generations have grown up with this staple brew that is embedded in the national culture.&nbsp; The history of tea cultivation in Nepal is more than a century-and-a-half old, ever since Gajaraj Singh Thapa planted the first sapling in Ilam in the 1800s. And while across the border, Darjeeling became synonymous with tea, Nepali leaves did not attain such fame.&nbsp; Now, tea connoisseurs across the world are discovering the distinctive aroma and taste of Nepal’s teas. The Nepali company <a href="https://junchiyabari.com">Jun Chiyabari </a>has branded its <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/getting-high-on-high-mountain-tea">High Mountain Tea</a> from the misty mountains of Dhankuta, and its subtle and sophisticated aroma has even found a niche market in countries where tea originated: China, Japan and Korea. Then there are the more traditional strong dark CTC blends with milk and sugar added to be slurped in the morning, or in tea shops with friends. But it is loose-leaf orthodox tea which is catching on even among Nepalis.&nbsp; Almost all of Nepal’s teas are produced in five eastern districts – Jhapa, Ilam, Pachthar, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=15185">Dhankuta</a>, and Terhathum – where elevation, soil condition and weather are best suited for the bushes to thrive.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230703120732_009d83b7d27bdeba30942a922a3403679df99796e37fc7f2812846d51a0a8786.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20230703120732_009d83b7d27bdeba30942a922a3403679df99796e37fc7f2812846d51a0a8786" data-rendition-name="original" width="817" height="494" loading="lazy" alt="Loose leaf tea Nepal"> </figure>  Most of the leaves are sold wholesale in the Indian market and packaged as Darjeeling tea. As much as 96.4% of Nepal’s tea export <a href="https://tching.com/2022/09/understanding-the-current-conflict-between-the-tea-producers-in-nepal-and-india/">ends up in India</a>. But this means Ilam tea has a hard time establishing its unique brand characteristics. &nbsp; To make matters worse, Nepali farmers do not get their due and are ripped off by middlemen controlling the supply chain. Nepal’s tea exports are valued at drastically low prices in the Indian market, which means most Nepali tea pickers and workers earn <a href="https://www.worldteanews.com/origins/qa-nepal-teas-nishchal-banskota-talks-social-change-and-sustainability">less than $2 a day</a>.&nbsp; According to the Nepal Trade Information Portal, tea export valued at Rs834 per kg in the US market only has a price tag of Rs266 in India. Due to the lack of market access, Nepali farmers get only a fraction of that. Nepal exported more than Rs2 billion worth of tea to India in 2021, but less than Rs9 million to the United States the same year. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/multimedia/made-in-nepal-peanut-butter-in-japan">Made in Nepal peanut butter in Japan</a>, Sonia Awale But here is the good news: Nepal's teas have been steadily carving out a brand name on the world stage. Companies like Nepal Tea Collective led by second and third-generation tea makers from eastern Nepal have been blazing a trail for loose-leaf, orthodox teas in the US market. It has also been working to disrupt the stranglehold of middlemen who have been so detrimental to farmers, as well as the international prospect for Nepal’s teas. &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230703120728_24d8b00faca41d9f498ea180962bee5437ad257577d7593af3eed51c371b93b0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20230703120728_24d8b00faca41d9f498ea180962bee5437ad257577d7593af3eed51c371b93b0" data-rendition-name="original" width="5612" height="3741" loading="lazy" alt="Nepali orthodox tea"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230703120740_21c8a91930bb47601afbc6da8bf00cd994d356c22abc69bd01ff2c5fd094f40d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20230703120740_21c8a91930bb47601afbc6da8bf00cd994d356c22abc69bd01ff2c5fd094f40d" data-rendition-name="original" width="1072" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Orthodox tea Nepal"> </figure>  Sourcing teas directly from family-owned, small-holder farms, <a href="https://nepalteacollective.com/">Nepal Tea Collective</a> connects tea drinkers in the US and across the world directly to farmers in eastern Nepal. Featured in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/28/dining/drinks/nepal-darjeeling-tea.html">The New York Times</a> and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/megykarydes/2018/03/27/nepal-tea-offers-opportunity-to-become-a-tea-farmer/?sh=6b4c94706093">Forbes</a> as a blueprint for reinventing the tea industry, Nepal Tea Collectives also offers the experience of award-winning teas from its catalog of organic, specialty teas.&nbsp; The Collective is also promoting tea tourism, taking visitors on ten-day trips through eastern Nepal’s scenic tea country, the sweet spot for tea gardens. Visitors can savour the scenery, the tea making process and the one-of-a-kind flavours of white, green, oolong or black teas along the foothills of Kangchenjunga, the world’s third highest mountain. The microclimate of eastern Nepal, where cool breezes from the snowcapped mountains mingle with the warm and moisture-laden winds from the Bay of Bengal, is ideal for tea. Visitors can also meet tea pickers, skilled factory workers and their ingenious and unique methods of producing exceptional flavours.&nbsp; Nepal Tea Collective is also hosting corporate tea-tasting programs to build awareness. “Guests can sip on tea together, learn about its rich history, and then engage in team-building activities,” explains founder Nishchal Banskota.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230703120728_3ead5ecd236b1d68fac3439d4344d3047006ad5129052a63291eac5cc5b7b627.jpg" data-media-id="editor_13" data-image-id="20230703120728_3ead5ecd236b1d68fac3439d4344d3047006ad5129052a63291eac5cc5b7b627" data-rendition-name="original" width="3024" height="3347" loading="lazy" alt="Nepali orthodox tea"> </figure>  The journey for Nepal’s tea has not been easy. There are challenges brought about by the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/himalayan-icecap-melting-faster-than-thought">climate crisis</a> as well as existing problems with outdated machinery, lack of proper storage and the higher cost of organic teas.&nbsp; “Nepali producers could process teas from Nepal and access international markets with better facilities. We could create an identity for Nepali producers in the global market,” says co-founder of the Collective, Pratik Rijal.&nbsp; An added challenge for farmers is also bridging the gap between the popular CTC <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=767">tea culture</a>, loaded with milk and sugar, and the still evolving taste among Nepalis for loose-leaf, organic teas.&nbsp; Nepal Tea Collective is now connecting Nepali tea drinkers with a range of Nepali orthodox teas. Co-founder Amigo Khadka says, “If the French have their wines, the Scots have whiskeys, the Swiss have their chocolates, can Nepalis not have their teas?” &nbsp; From Nepal with love Decades before their conception in 2016 in New York, Nepal Tea Collective’s journey began halfway across the world, in Ilam’s Phidim.&nbsp; Founded by second and third-generation tea-makers, Nishchal Banskota and Pratik Rijal, Nepal Tea Collective has since taken loose-leaf, orthodox Nepali teas to the global market.&nbsp; Starting off as a kick-starter campaign with almost 500 backers, their work has always been anchored in disrupting the market chain of middlemen that rob tea farmers of their earnings. &nbsp;Following a direct-to-consumer model, Nepal Tea Collective sources their award-winning, organic, loose-leaf teas from small-holder, family-owned partner farms, like the Kanchanjangha Tea Estate and Research Center.&nbsp; Read also: J<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/japanese-yen-made-in-nepal">apanese Yen, Made in Nepal</a>, Maheshwor Acharya Established in the 1984s, the Kanchanjangha Tea Estate and Research Center was envisioned by Banskota’s father, Deepak Prakash Banskota. At just 15, Deepak Prakash Banskota was struck by the thriving tea gardens and the livelihoods of the tea farmers in Darjeeling. Hoping to lift his own village in eastern Nepal out of poverty, Banskota planted Phidim’s first tea garden upon his return. What had been a backyard tea garden grew into the Kanchanjangha Tea Estate, the first certified organic tea garden in Nepal.&nbsp; Over the years, some of the most flavorful and aromatic teas in the world were grown and produced on these farms. And yet, Nepali teas were lagging behind with the Darjeeling variant making up most of the market. In fact, most of the leaves grown in Nepal are sold wholesale in the Indian market and packaged as Darjeeling tea. “It was almost as if Nepali loose-leaf teas had no identity of their own,” says Nishchal Banskota. “I realised it was our job, as the next generation, to step up and inform the world about Nepali teas, about our incredible tea-makers.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023070313074_621f2971642949e2fdb28790b9e2ec26ab07300bcc9f55887fa774b843b74a40.jpg" data-media-id="editor_17" data-image-id="2023070313074_621f2971642949e2fdb28790b9e2ec26ab07300bcc9f55887fa774b843b74a40" data-rendition-name="original" width="5695" height="3797" loading="lazy" alt="Orthodox Nepali tea"> <figcaption>Founder and Co-founder of Nepal Tea Collective Nischal Baskota and Pratik Rijal.</figcaption> </figure>  Uplifting small-holder, community tea farms out of poverty is at the heart of Nepal Tea Collective’s work. By sustainably leveraging tea-making as a catalyst for economic and social transformation, Nepal Tea Collective is striving to uplift one million tea farmers out of poverty by 2050.&nbsp; Since 2016, they have been working with seven community farms that operate in a cooperative, sustainable model, facilitating social change for 712 farmers. The average wage of their partner farmers has increased from $67 to $90 since 2016, an increment of 33%.&nbsp; Not only have tea farmers and tea-makers benefited from the elimination of middlemen, consumers have also appreciated the freshness of their orthodox teas. It typically takes over 3-6 months for loose-leaf teas to reach tea-lovers through the supply chain of middlemen. Nepal Tea Collective has drastically shortened this chain: packing their teas at origin and immediately sending the tea to the customer, so that they are the first ones to open their teas. In the spirit of transparency, customers can also scan a QR code on the packaging of every bag of loose-leaf tea, tracking the entire journey their tea leaves have taken.&nbsp; Furthermore, the collective also brings in tea tourists for immersive experiences of organic tea farming and tea-making in eastern Nepal. This allows for a new appreciation for Nepal’s unique micro-climates and rich terrain for tea farming while also connecting visitors with the young, Nepali tea-makers revolutionising the industry.

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चिया खानु भो ?

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101144/63720ec19c7e80680e0b7938jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1001"/><figcaption>All photos: JUN CHIYABARI</figcaption></figure>The all-purpose Nepali greeting “चिया खानु भो?” literally means “have you had your tea?” But it can mean anything from ‘Good Morning’, ‘How are you?’, or any other greeting.Now, mundane tea-drinking is being replaced by a new breed of beverage aficionados who savour and grade sophisticated teas as if it were champagne.For the untrained palate used to morning tea with milk and sugar, the subtle aroma and flavour of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/chiampagne/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">High Mountain Tea</a> brings out the wholesomeness and simplicity of the leaves. Once hooked, many in Nepal and around the world do not want to slurp anything else.And slurp it you must, as a recent elaborate tea-tasting ritual showed. Speciality teas of the High Mountain have been quietly gaining a loyal international following, proving to be a premium export from Nepal.“There is no one way of drinking tea but we have completely rebranded Nepali tea, not just in taste but in our mindset and marketing,” says Lochan Gyawali of Jun Chiyabari, a family-run tea garden 2,000m high up in the mountains of Dhankuta.<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=17890" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepali tea</a> is often mistaken for the more popular Darjeeling variety because of similar taste and production methods. Historically, whole-leaf tea grown in Nepal used to be sold in India to be exported and blended into Darjeeling while the rest was processed into cheaper broken-leaf CTC black tea for domestic consumption.But Nepali growers are now consciously moving away from British and Indian influences, carving a unique Asian identity for tea from Nepal with refined taste.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101144/63720ec49c7e80680e0b7939jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="790" height="503">Speciality tea or ‘orthodox tea’ as it is commonly called, uses the wholeness of the leaf to create a diverse range of flavours. The leaves are not torn or crushed as they are in Darjeeling teas, but carefully rolled to create the desired taste and tang.Starting this month until December, tea pickers in <a href="https://junchiyabari.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Jun Chiyabari</a>'s 90-hectare plantation on the slopes near Hile in eastern Nepal will be busy, carefully plucking young leaves before they go into processing.“From the beginning we brought experts from Japan, China and Taiwan to train our staff to unlearn what Darjeeling has been doing,” says Gyawali, who himself grew up among tea gardens next to his school in the hill station.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101144/63720ec69c7e80680e0b793ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1503" height="1000">Unlike the usual tea production, High Mountain goes through withering, rolling and drying with specialised equipment designed to retain the organic compounds that give tea its essence.“You change the machine, you change the taste. Our teas have become different because of the way we pick them, process them, and the equipment,” explains Gyawali who started Jun Chiyabari with brother Bachan Gyawali after dabbling in the tourism and electronic export sectors.Jun Chiyabari today produces up to 20 different types of tea, each with its own distinctive flavour. It is exported to the United States, Canada, Japan and Europe where connoisseurs compare the teas to the sophistication of fine wines. The popularity of <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=14781#.Yj50Ky2B2b8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">High Mountains </a> s also growing amongst Nepal’s urbanites, where it is often called ‘chiampagne’.“If you want to sustain a market like Japan, mediocrity will not sell, you need perfection. Japanese buyers tell us our tea is unlike anything they have tasted from South Asia,” says Gyawali proudly.Indeed, High Mountain is described in Japanese as having the ‘flavour of the mist of the mountains’ — an accolade of the highest order.<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=767#.Yj50MC2B2b8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Speciality tea</a> production is not without challenges. Nepal has not even scratched the surface of the potential in the domestic and world market. There are no studies into cultivars suitable for Nepal’s topography. Growers have to rely on trial and error methods.This means raw material is limited. With additional challenges posed by climate breakdown, growers are having to cope with increased demand and maintaining a delicate balance between quality and quantity.“We already knew global heating was going to impact us, so the selection of plantation sites was important. We couldn’t do anything about rising average temperatures and precipitation patterns, but we could, and did, go higher up the mountains,” says Gyawali.The pandemic has also affected <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=12018#.Yj50Mi2B2b8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepal’s tea industry</a>, but enthusiasts have discovered the health benefits of High Mountain during this time and boosted online sales. More and more growers are now interested in this niche market.Jun Chiyabari’s motto has remained the same over the years, to grow unique leaves to put Nepal on the world tea map. If the praise it has received internationally (see above) so far is anything to go by, it has already achieved this.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t8HoNNwsJE<h2>Tea Talk</h2>“Jun Chiyabari is a mark of trust and artistic creativity in Japan. All its various types of tea come in amazing quality and with an unmistakable sense of purity that captures the heart of tea connoisseurs. This is the fruit of constant effort trying to understand tea itself and the market. They are one of the very few producers who have tried and also succeeded in adapting a part of themselves towards the Japanese market.-Sayaka Nakanoji, Silver Pot Inc, TokyoOur connection to Jun Chiyabari tea garden dates back more than seven years. We purchased our first batches in 2014, which was one of the best decisions we have made. Since then our business has flourished and Nepali tea sales are increasing in our region.We consider Jun Chiabari to be the most progressive tea company in Nepal. In my opinion, they bring Nepali tea to a very high level and bring much fame to the country. Their attitude and care towards co-workers and the surrounding natural environment is a model to be followed in other parts of the world. We are proudly selling the carefully selected batches from the Jun Chiyabari tea garden to various restaurants and cafés in Budapest, Central Europe, including the finest Michelin star restaurants. -Gábor Tálos, Zhao Zhou Tea, Budapest<h2>History of Tea</h2>Tea dates back to ancient China 5,000 years ago. Legend has it that Chinese emperor Shen Nung in 2737 BC was sitting beneath a tree with his servant boiling drinking water when some leaves from a tree were blown into it. A renowned herbalist, Shen Nung, decided to taste the infusion. The tree was Camellia sinensis, which came to be known as 'tea tree'.Over time, tea established its medicinal properties helping reduce stress and fatigue. Before long, tea travelled across Asia via Buddhist monks to Japan, Korea and beyond.It was only in the 17th century that tea became popular among the British who then introduced tea plantations in India, specifically Darjeeling, to end the Chinese monopoly.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101144/63720eca9c7e80680e0b793bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="915">It is only natural that neighbouring Nepal would be the next place to be ‘tea-fied’. The beverage soon took off, influenced by British and Indian preferences for mixing in milk and sugar, and lately, other spices.But the history of <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=15185#.Yj54Di2B2b8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">tea in Nepal</a> is not linear. In 1863 the Daoguang Emperor of China gifted tea plants to Prime Minister Jung Bahadur Rana. Tea plantations in Ilam district began shortly after the British set up theirs across the border ridge in Darjeeling.But tea was consumed in Kathmandu long before that. Newa traders in Tibet had already brought tea drinking to Kathmandu – not with milk, but black tea with salt and butter.<h2>High Himalayan</h2>Harvesting: Young leaves are plucked by tea-pickers between late March and December. Tea makers can decide which type of tea to make depending on their look, the area where they are from and the time when they were plucked.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101144/63720ecd9c7e80680e0b793cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1001">Withering: Leaves are spread on vast trays to wither, are gently fluffed, rotated and monitored to ensure even exposure to the air. Before withering, some teas go through the sun, wilting out in the open.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101148/63720ed09c7e80680e0b793djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1001">Rolling: The leaves after they become limp are rolled either by hand or a machine. This is to break cells and mix together a variety of organic compounds found naturally within the leaves to bring out its flavour.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101148/63720ed49c7e80680e0b793ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="534">Oxidisation: The clumped leaves are broken up and set to oxidise, laid out to rest for several hours depending on the style of tea being produced. Oxidisation greatly influences flavours.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101148/63720ed79c7e80680e0b793fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="534">Firing/drying: Finally, the leaves are heated or fired quickly to dry them to below 3% moisture content and stop the oxidation process. The leaves can then be stored safely.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101148/63720eda9c7e80680e0b7940jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1203" height="803"><h2>Tea Types</h2>Broadly speaking, there are five main varieties of tea in the market:Black: The most common type of tea, this is fully oxidised, is darker in appearance and has higher caffeine content. It is characterised by a strong flavour and is typically consumed with milk and sugar. Think Darjeeling and English Breakfast.White: Simply withered and dried, this is the least processed of all teas. Has a high level of antioxidants but the lowest caffeine content. Best consumed without any additives. The infusion is very light-coloured and has a mild flavour. Originally from China.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101148/63720ede9c7e80680e0b7941jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1026">Green: The unoxidised tea that has retained its natural green colour with a high level of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. It produces a pale greenish-yellow infusion with a light and grassy taste. Popularised as a healthy tea, it can be taken with lemon, but not milk.Oolong: Semi-oxidised tea mainly produced in China and Taiwan with flavour resembling neither black nor green. The aroma depends on how long the leaves are allowed to sit before halting oxidisation. Produces golden or light brown infusion.Pu-erh: Exclusively from Yunnan province of China known for its distinctively earthy flavour. Made from wild tea leaves rather than cultivated ones, it is fermented by pressing raw leaves together, often stored underground for several years for maturity. Can be either black or green depending on the level of oxidation allowed.

Sonia Awale

Getting high on High Mountain Tea

The delicate and refreshing flavour of high mountain tea from Nepal gets a cult following abroad<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110710110/6368c9849c7e80680e02f2b9jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1231"/><figcaption>Photos: Gopen Rai</figcaption></figure>The subtle aroma and lingering taste of <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=12018#.WsYbMy5ubIU">Himalayan tea</a> has created a new international market with <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=8633#.WsYbMS5ubIU">big potential for exporting high value</a> leaves from Nepal. Several Nepali growers are exporting this sophisticated product range that needs much greater quality control and care than normal teas.More than 80% of the tea Nepal exports is still the traditional CTC variety with brands like Tokla and Muna, or mediocre teas sold in India to be re-exported as <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=14781#.WsYbOS5ubIU">Darjeeling</a>. However, a growing segment of the market is now dominated by specialty or orthodox teas.This coincides with the lenghty effort to brand Nepali tea, and put it on the map of the tea world like Sri Lanka did with Ceylon and India with Darjeeling. Nepal’s Rakura is trying to establish the Nepal brand with sustainability, longterm strategic planning and a mission to make tea from Nepal famous worldwide.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110710110/6368c9879c7e80680e02f2bajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="427"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>“Through Rakura, we are pushing the market with a similar approach to international tea brands,” says Neeraj Rathi, one of two brothers who own and run Rakura.Nepal was not making use of its potential and capacity to produce a lot of high quality tea, and even within Nepal, very few consumers knew about the origin of the quality tea being produced.Nepal Tea and Coffee Development Board (NTCDB) has finally put out a licensed logo (below) for Nepali tea with the tagline ‘Nepal Tea, Quality from the Himalayas’ which can be used by Nepali companies exporting quality tea to the international market.“The logo marks a symbol of standard for our tea”, explains NTCDB Executive Director, Sheshkanta Gautam. “It means that the product with the logo on the pack has undergone thorough inspection, is certified organic and the quality is supreme.”<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110710110/6368c98b9c7e80680e02f2bbjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="467" height="700">Internationally, however, customers are getting more familiar with High Mountain teas from Nepal with brands like <a href="http://junchiyabari.com/">Jun Chiyabari</a> which produce up to 20 types of tea with unique flavours found nowhere else. Nepali tea is finally carving out its own identity and distinguishing itself in production methods and quality from British and Indian influences.“General consumers worldwide do not know much about Nepal, unless we use the term Himalaya, and besides our teas get mixed up with Darjeeling because of similar taste,” explains Lochan Gyawali of Jun Chiyabari. “That is why we have created a distinct and exclusive taste, so that our tea stands out among the other better known ones.”Jun Chiyabari tea plantation is situated in the mountain slopes near Hile of Dhankuta. Their tea varieties are now exported to Japan, USA, Canada and Europe, where it has been very favourably reviewed. As a pioneer in exclusive Nepali teas, Jun Chiyabari is popularising teas like Himalayan Pine, Himalayan Evergreen, Himalayan Shiiba and Himalayan Spring.https://youtu.be/oO_zeel0fW4Drinking its brews is different from traditional tea, there is an elaborate process of growing, picking, making, sorting and drinking it chilled like champagne in tea ceremonies.Gyawali says his tea garden tries to get away from being a poor copy of Darjeeling varieties to be sold by the case-loads and blended with other teas. For this, Jun Chiyabari uses new Nepali cultivars, Taiwanese machines, specially trained pickers and has found a new cult following among the health-conscious in Europe and East Asia who are disillusioned with coffee.With the success of these specialty Nepali teas in the international market, branding standard Nepali tea may have come too late.“Despite it being a good branding exercise, very little of the tea produced in Nepal is of high enough quality and there is a danger that the new brand will be eroded if we do not implement proper food safety measures and quality control,” says Uday Chapagain of Gorkha Tea Estate and Nature Himalayan Tea.With so much happening in Nepal’s tea industry, championing the international market will no longer become an unachievable mission.Read also:<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=8633#.WsYbMS5ubIU">Our cup of tea</a>,  Kiran Nepal<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=767#.WsYbNy5ubIU">A new leaf</a>,  Mallika Aryal<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=14781#.WsYbOS5ubIU">Ilam tea goes green</a>,  Pranaya SJB Rana<h2>Mountain to cup</h2>How Nepal's sophisticated new teas are grown and produced for export.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110710110/6368c98d9c7e80680e02f2bcjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="934"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110710110/6368c9919c7e80680e02f2bdjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="935"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110710110/6368c9949c7e80680e02f2bejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="935"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110710110/6368c9979c7e80680e02f2bfjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="1050"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110710110/6368c99b9c7e80680e02f2c0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="934"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110710110/6368c99f9c7e80680e02f2c1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="934"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110710110/6368c9a39c7e80680e02f2c2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="934"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110710110/6368c9a69c7e80680e02f2c3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="931"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110710110/6368c9aa9c7e80680e02f2c4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="937"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>

Chiampagne

“Let's have another cup of tea,” <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/ujwal-thapa-s-light-shines-on-n0tfurod">Ujwal Thapa</a> of the alternative Bibeksheel Nepali party told the young activist Pukar Bam ten years ago. The two had 12 cups of tea that day, discussing ways to get Nepal out of its political deadend. Thapa contested the Constituent Assembly election in 2013 as an independent from Kathmandu, and formed Bibeksheel Nepali to galvanise youth impatient for change, fielding candidates in the first federal election in 2017.&nbsp; Ujwal Thapa was a political guru who was way ahead of his time, and his protégés were among the RSP’s winning candidates in last week’s election. Pukar Bam was a core member of Bibeksheel Nepali until its dissolution, and won the Kathmandu-4 seat this time. Other former Bibeksheel members who won the election from the RSP in Kathmandu include Ranju Neupane from Kathmandu-1, Sasmit Pokharel from Kathmandu-5, and Biraj Bhakta Shrestha in Kathmandu-8. As votes were counted and the results from Kathmandu began to come in, the candidates paid fulsome tribute to Ujwal Thapa’s mentorship and in inspiring idealistic youth to become a part of an alternative political force.&nbsp; Today, as RSP members of Parliament, they are no longer an alternative, but a part of Nepal’s new mainstream politics. Thapa returned to Nepal after finishing his undergraduate computer science degree in the US at the peak of the Maoist insurgency. His foray into politics began when he traveled to Nepal’s western mountains to train communities in mediation. After the war, he started a computer design company for young entrepreneurs entering the workforce. But he became frustrated with the inability of the second Constituent Assembly to promulgate the Constitution, and the power struggle between political parties played out in the streets that led to frequent shutdowns paralysing the country.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260313120348_d18647d53a3b2927328067c35b2e3e6eecf9aefe13f23384e73a2c17211cd9cb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20260313120348_d18647d53a3b2927328067c35b2e3e6eecf9aefe13f23384e73a2c17211cd9cb" data-rendition-name="original" width="823" height="682" loading="lazy" alt="The RSP's activist DNA"> <figcaption>Thapa with Pukar Bam, who was elected to Parliament last week from Kathmandu-4. Photo: PUKAR BAM / FACEBOOK</figcaption> </figure>  PROTEST TO POLITICS Ujwal Thapa had had enough, and rallied people from across walks of life, leading peaceful, silent demonstrations proclaiming 'नेपाल खुल्ला छ' against prolonged, violent strikes. Citizens fed up with the main political parties organised to defy the shutdowns. Thapa’s activism and vision for a new Nepal drew disenchanted and previously apathetic youth into politics and to join the Bibeksheel Nepali Party in 2013.&nbsp; Thapa was the pioneer of alternative politics in Nepal, and was leading a youth force long before the GenZ became synonymous with Nepal’s September Storm. He mentored and guided social activists who are today influential youth leaders engaged in non-traditional politics. “Ujwal Thapa, with his entrepreneurial spirit, wanted to address people’s pain-points, and believed that activism was the starting point to alternative politics,” explains <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepal-loses-rare-purpose-driven-leader">Ashutosh Tiwari</a>, former member of Bibeksheel Sajha party. “He sought to build confidence, motivate, and build a community for young people, which drew a lot of people into Bibeksheel.” He adds: “ And while people might say that Bibeksheel never got big, that was never its point. Its function was to be an early talent incubator, which is what it did as evident by the result of this election.” Thapa died in 2021 of complications related to Covid-19, and Bibeksheel had two mergers with Rabindra Mishra’s Sajha Party before being permanently dissolved in 2021. But many of its idealistic members joined Rabi Lamichhane’s RSP, formed just four months before the 2022 federal election. Such was the groundswell of support for change that the RSP became the fourth-largest in Parliament. In 2017, Ranju Neupane (then Ranju Darshana) was the youngest mayoral candidate for Kathmandu at age 21, and contested the federal election in 2022. Pukar Bam himself lost the 2022 election in Kathmandu-1 as an independent.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260313120348_6302a9b534f57191d9a2cb2c31b31449873c6cc27d375344a248dd90847921dd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20260313120348_6302a9b534f57191d9a2cb2c31b31449873c6cc27d375344a248dd90847921dd" data-rendition-name="original" width="1729" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="The RSP's activist DNA"> <figcaption>Photo: SOCIAL MEDIA</figcaption> </figure>  Sashmit Pokharel also ran an unsuccessful campaign as an independent candidate in Kathmandu during the 2022 provincial election. Later, he was a member of the City Planning Commission under Balendra Shah when he was elected mayor of Kathmandu in 2022.&nbsp; Last week, the RSP swept the election with a supermajority of 182 seats in Parliament. Voters placed their trust in the party and its leaders to steer Nepal in a new direction after the youth unrest in September.&nbsp; In many ways, Nepal’s youth have decided, just as Ujwal Thapa once did, that enough is enough with corruption, malgovernance, nepotism and dynastic politics.&nbsp; In the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/the-man-who-shook-our-minds">documentary</a> about his life, Dimag Ghochne Manche, released earlier this year, some RSP nominees who previously worked with and were mentored by Thapa spoke of the impact he had on their lives, career, and activism. Among them is Biraj Bhakta Shrestha, former minister of Youth and Sports who is now a second time RSP parliamentarian. “I tell everybody that if it hadn’t been for Ujwal Dai, I would not have gotten into politics,” he says in the film.&nbsp; It would be unfair to attribute all the success of the hard-fought campaigns entirely to Ujwal Thapa’s protégés and former coworkers.&nbsp; But his ethos and vision for Nepal was what inspired them, and will in the coming years be reflected in national politics through the young idealists he mentored. Says Ashutosh Tiwari: “There are many Bibeksheels outside of RSP in constant and open communication with their old friends who have been elected. They will be keeping the lawmakers in check so that they do no stray too far from the values that they grew up with.”

RSP’s activist DNA

The Bell that rang in the new A daughter stands in her family's living room, frantically ringing an actual घण्टी at her father. He is a lifelong Nepali Congress (NC) voter. She tells him his party loyalty is as humiliating as a daughter eloping.&nbsp; He looks visibly defeated, and because of RSP’s landslide sweep in this election, he has no reply. She is not a party member. Nobody told her to do this.&nbsp; Multiply this actual family scene by hundreds of thousands of households across Nepal and you find the reason for the RSP tsunami. Children ringing bells at parents over dinner. Aunties shaking bells at legacy party candidates on their morning walks. Taxi drivers, lifelong UML supporters, cheerfully announcing they have switched.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026031014038_096f980a799b4f80118863174ed629680cc6c21b02e226a899ce1dc5268b4b72.png" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2026031014038_096f980a799b4f80118863174ed629680cc6c21b02e226a899ce1dc5268b4b72" data-rendition-name="original" width="364" height="662" loading="lazy" alt="RSP Flag prank"> </figure>  And overseas, Nepalis in Dubai and Doha, Sydney and Seattle, calling home to deliver just one instruction: “चुपचाप &nbsp;घण्टीमा छाप”।&nbsp; How did an election symbol like the Bell jump off a ballot paper and become weaponised for generational shame?&nbsp; The RSP's 2026 campaign is a case study in how a symbol becomes so participatory and instinctive, that citizens start campaigning on behalf of a party they never formally joined. It may look like a cult, but it is a phenomenon no political party in Nepal has ever pulled off. The ghost in the machine&nbsp; The 3-year-old RSP entered the 2026 race without the campaign infrastructure that legacy parties considered essential. It has no sister organisations, no vanguard student unions, no established cadre networks.&nbsp; In a country where ground reach and organisation wins elections, this looked like a fatal handicap. Established parties had spent decades building a top-down machinery: youth wings that mobilise on orders and unions within government. But it was all hollow and manufactured.&nbsp; That is why when the NC or UML posted a policy manifesto, it got barely 200 shares. When a 19-year-old posts an <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/spot-ai-generated-election-videos">AI video on TikTok </a>of Balendra Shah swinging a bell like a Kung Fu Hustle weapon, it gets 5 million views.&nbsp; The RSP’s very absence became its strategic advantage. Without a chain of command for content, every post felt peer-to-peer. Supporters built communities instead of following orders. Network effects took over: one person posts, three friends remix it, their followers adapt it for their own local context, and the message multiplies without a single directive from party headquarters. A TikTok from Kathmandu featuring Balendra Shah gets remixed by someone in Birganj who <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@bhojpuriyasuppor0/video/7596686360111484178?q=bhojpuri%20dub%20balen&amp;t=1773115199365">dubs it in Bhojpuri</a>. A supporter in Pokhara takes the same “अबकि बार बालेन सरकार” audio and films it over footage of the city’s broken road.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026031014038_56090217f5b3482fad934c4f76fc872047571b3c86331a4eda1ac19ae389c2fc.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2026031014038_56090217f5b3482fad934c4f76fc872047571b3c86331a4eda1ac19ae389c2fc" data-rendition-name="original" width="375" height="646" loading="lazy" alt="Balen Bhojpuri remix"> </figure>  A Nepali worker in Dubai films himself shaking his phone at the camera, captioning it “I can't vote but my family can”. The content stays structurally the same (bell + emotion) but the surface changes every time. The format is the constant. The context is the variable. A single post multiplies into a thousand pieces of local content without anyone coordinating it. Legacy parties spent money on reach. RSP's strategy built reach for free, because participation itself was the product. The Bell, blazer and brand&nbsp; Run the sensory test. The UML's Sun symbol is only visual. You see it on a ballot, on a flag. You cannot hear a sun. You cannot perform a &nbsp;sun. Nobody walks into a room and ‘suns’ at an opponent.&nbsp; The NC’s Tree symbol is also only seen. It communicates nothing as a verb. Nobody ‘trees’ the father across the dinner table. Ujyalo Nepal's lightbulb was the most passive symbol of all, it just sits there being always on. The Bell had rare resonance as an election symbol. It is a verb (to ring), a sound (tintinnabulation), a physical action (shaking), and a metaphor (wake-up call). घण्टी is participatory by design. You do not just see it, you perform it.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260310140312_c5580164e1f11a8466f591c4d514420bb5313a34b559554db05364065486c3b7.png" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20260310140312_c5580164e1f11a8466f591c4d514420bb5313a34b559554db05364065486c3b7" data-rendition-name="original" width="368" height="654" loading="lazy" alt="Classroom ghanti NT"> </figure>  It works as a metaphor: wake up. It works as a taunt: we are coming (“हामी आयौँ”). It operates across sensory channels a meme can travel through. The other party symbols are logos. The घण्टी is a multimedia verb in active voice. Poets on the frontline Politics has always been about performance. Murray Edelman wrote decades ago that political actions are symbolic acts: what politicians do matters less than what their actions represent.&nbsp; Guy-Ernest Debord argued that spectacle replaces lived experience. But the stage has changed. The social media feed is the new stage, and the algorithm is the casting director. It does not select for policy depth, but for recognisability, emotional charge, and remix potential. Poets have always been at the frontlines of political rupture. The French Revolution had its pamphleteers. The Bolsheviks had Mayakovsky. The Black Panthers had Gil Scott-Heron. Nepal's own political history is full of writers who paid for their words with prison or exile.&nbsp; Rap is rhythm and poetry. Balen Shah did not cross from entertainment into politics, his art was always political. “सडकबालक" in 2012 was already a protest song. The diss tracks against corruption were manifestos set to beat.&nbsp; So, if घण्टी was the sound, Balen was the voice. Supporters rang Bells to perform, projecting their hopes on Balen. One is participatory (anyone can ring it), the other is aspirational (representing what you want the country to become). Together, they form a complete symbolic system: an action and an icon, a thing you do, and a person you believe in. Both are algorithm-native. The sunglasses are instantly recognisable in a thumbnail at any size. The bell sound action is identifiable within half a second of a video starting. The confrontational attitude generates the emotional charge that the algorithm rewards.&nbsp; Balen was already trained in the language of the algorithm: hooks, rhythm, timing, and audience retention. While legacy politicians are just now trying to learn the language of the algorithm, Balen grew up speaking it. The folk song brand kit: The slogans wrote themselves. While legacy politicians are just now trying to learn the language of the algorithm, Balen has grown up speaking it. The folk song brand kit The slogans wrote themselves. “चुपचाप &nbsp;घण्टीमा छाप” spread through tea shops and bus parks like a folk proverb. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-ai-generated-election">AI-generated Mahabharat edits</a> positioned Balendra Shah as a warrior-hero fighting K P Oli in golden armour.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026031014038_cd7fbb8b4a97628757977b55d1244b192c233566dad268e894c7132d16cf180c.png" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="2026031014038_cd7fbb8b4a97628757977b55d1244b192c233566dad268e894c7132d16cf180c" data-rendition-name="original" width="369" height="667" loading="lazy" alt="Ghanti Chhap NT"> </figure>  The entire package, partly by accident, partly by instinct, was built to be remixed. Every element is modular: the bell, the sunglasses, the slogan, the attitude. Take any piece and make your own version. Like a ‘Deusi re” song, the melody is fixed, everyone knows it, but anyone can change the words to fit their occasion and mood. It survives across generations precisely because no one controls it.&nbsp; The घण्टी ecosystem works the same way. The melody is fixed: the bell, the sound, the slogan, the sunglasses, the attitude. But the lyrics can be anyone’s. Shoot it in your neighborhood. Dub it in your language. Film your grandmother's reaction. Set it to your local context. That's why it spread faster than any IT cell could manufacture.&nbsp; The generational pincer The standard narrative is that digital movements stay digital, and that memes are a GenZ thing. RSP broke both assumptions. Its content operation executed a pincer movement across generations, capturing not just the youth vote but used youth as a delivery mechanism into households where no party organiser could reach. The Generational Pincer Flowchart Three vectors of pressure, all converging on the same target: the living room and the dinner table, where votes in Nepal are actually decided. Downward: children trolling parents by ringing bells at dinner, turning family meals into campaign arenas. A bell rings as a prank, then as a joke, then as a political statement. By the third night, it's not funny anymore. It's a conversation.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260310140316_446e465f60994532e53b1786368dd025e9ad99a387b4121493f8826c46921cb7.png" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20260310140316_446e465f60994532e53b1786368dd025e9ad99a387b4121493f8826c46921cb7" data-rendition-name="original" width="364" height="669" loading="lazy" alt="Ghanti prank"> </figure>  Lateral: the diaspora pipeline. Nepalis in Australia, the Gulf, Japan, could not vote, but they turned every Viber call home into a campaign touchpoint.&nbsp; Upward: the bell pressured power itself. No RSP organiser gets a meeting with a UML ward chairman or a NC MP. But those people go home. And at home, they have teenagers, nieces, nephews, and staff whose kids are on TikTok.&nbsp; A party boss's son rings a bell at dinner and asks uncomfortable questions. A NC donor's daughter shares RSP content on her Instagram story, visible to her father's entire social circle. No political structure, no matter how hierarchical, is sealed off from its own household. The bell did not need to breach the gates of Singha Durbar, it walked in through the kitchen window. The result crossed every demographic line analysts thought was fixed. Memes didn't just stay in the feed. They colonised the living room, the kitchen, the long-distance phone call, the taxi ride. Content nobody commissioned&nbsp; What the RSP's organic content looked less like a political campaign and more like a football fan club. People were not posting because they were told to. They were posting because they belonged. Trace the trends as they accumulated: <ul> <li>“<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@rameshmahto065/video/7610784878174424338?q=chup%20chap%20ghanti%20chap&amp;t=1773115568686">चुपचाप &nbsp;घण्टीमा छाप</a>” started as a TikTok post, then showed up on motorcycle stickers, WhatsApp statuses, AI-remixed songs, and in tea-shop conversation as a folk proverb.</li> <li><a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@rajjimond_18/video/7612570510508969236?q=ma%20ta%20balen%20ko%20fan&amp;t=1773115129539">Original songs composed by supporters</a>, not the party, gained millions of views. People danced to them at rallies and in the streets. People at polling booths created TikToks to RSP anthems to show their support.</li> <li>AI spectacle videos of Balen as a Mahabharat hero, filmy dialogue, stylised Nepal flag. Slapstick clips hitting 200K+ likes and 5M views. All made by random accounts, none traceable to party infrastructure.</li> <li>Supporters built Bell apps and websites on their own. One site, <a href="https://ghanti.website">ghanti.website</a>, was registered by a random supporter in January. Open it on your phone, shake it side to side, and it rings. Within weeks, crowds of supporters were walking through neighborhoods shaking their phones in unison, producing a wall of digital bell sound.</li> <li>The intimate content. A husband-wife vlog filmed inside a car, casually discussing what a lawmaker should actually do. Just two people talking, and it resonated more than any campaign ad.</li> </ul> None of this was centrally coordinated. Parties across Nepal spent money on polished graphics that looked like professional advertisements. RSP supporters spent nothing and made content that felt like conversation. The algorithm doesn't reward production value, it rewards emotional resonance. And nothing resonated more than the feeling that you, personally, could participate in this movement without anyone's permission. Now what? The RSP has a supermajority. The Bell rang louder than anyone predicted. But a movement built on open-source energy now has to deliver closed-source results: budgets, legislation, diplomacy, institutional reform. Balen built his brand by bypassing institutions, Prime Minister Balendra Shah has to run them. He communicated through Facebook posts and rap lyrics. Now he needs to communicate with India, China, and multilateral lenders.&nbsp; His midnight F-bomb post, deleted within 30 minutes but screenshotted by thousands, showed both his appeal (unfiltered authenticity) and his risk (unfiltered impulsiveness). The question is not whether the bell rang loud enough. It obviously did. The question is what happens when the supporters who posted without being asked start expecting results they did not specify. When the meme energy that won living rooms has to translate into parliamentary committees.&nbsp; For decades, the promise of democracy was that people choose their leaders. What RSP's campaign revealed is something more uncomfortable: in the age of the algorithm and remixable content, people do not just choose their leaders.&nbsp; They build the campaign, write the slogans, produce the content, convert their own families, and then show up to vote for the movement they made with their own hands. The party becomes a container for energy it didn't create and can't fully control.&nbsp; That's either the most democratic thing that's ever happened in Nepal, or the most dangerous. It might be both.

Nobody ran the campaign. That is why it worked.

Amidst the euphoria in Nepal about the RSP’s landslide victory, the party’s future government, possibly led by Balendra Shah will plunge headlong into an energy and economic crisis sparked by the war in West Asia. Nepal gets all its diesel, petrol, gas and aviation fuel from India and lacks a strategic stockpile to buffer against shortages. The United States has unsanctioned Russian crude oil to India for one month, but India will only export refined petroleum products to Nepal after meeting its own domestic demand. As it is, India has only 10 days of stockpile of cooking gas and it is giving preference to household use. Energy experts say new oil and gas supplies from Russia and elsewhere will take another month to arrive at Indian ports. “This conflict didn’t develop overnight, yet we did nothing to augment our reserves. Clearly, we didn’t manage procurement anticipating supply disruptions,” says economist Pushkar Bajracharya. The conflict has escalated, seriously disrupting global petroleum supplies. Nearly 20% of the world’s oil and gas moves out of the Strait of Hormuz which is now blocked. The Persian Gulf makes up most of the oil and liquified natural gas supplied to Japan (75%), India (50%) and China (38%). Crude oil prices have nearly doubled to $100 a barrel this week.&nbsp; “This crisis is only going to intensify, so in the short term, it means fuel prices will increase as will the cost of goods and services,” adds Bajracharya. “This doesn’t bode well for the new government, especially when people have such high expectations from it.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260315020356_e9f97cc4e8a41bab08fb9c318be887a7eef5ac674326a9a1c878fd80109c3ec7.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20260315020356_e9f97cc4e8a41bab08fb9c318be887a7eef5ac674326a9a1c878fd80109c3ec7" data-rendition-name="original" width="1315" height="801" loading="lazy" alt="Strait of Hormuz NT"> </figure>  Fuel stoppages from India have happened before, notably during the 2015 Blockade. But Nepal could be better placed this time to cushion the shock because of the proliferation of battery-operated vehicles, and electrification of household cooking to some extent. “The increase in electric vehicles provides some relief, but it is not enough,” says energy economist and former Water Resources Minister Dipak Gyawali. “Most critical services still run on diesel, and they cannot be replaced overnight.”&nbsp; Nepal’s expanding road network means diesel and petrol consumption is also increasing. If the war drags on, there will be a critical shortage of aviation fuel that could also hurt tourism at the start of the trekking and mountaineering season. There is already a nationwide shortage of cooking gas which is used by 62% of Nepali households. &nbsp; The fuel crisis will have a knock-on effect on the economy which the RSP government will have to tackle on an emergency footing as soon as it comes into office. The priority would be to cap fuel prices with subsidies, control hoarding, and in the longer term expedite the switch to electricity for transportation and cooking.&nbsp; MONEY IN The other impact will be on jobs in West Asia and remittances. Nearly half the $11 billion a year Nepalis send home every year comes from West Asian countries. Nepal’s hard currency reserves have hit a record high $21.09 billion, but that cash will be of no use if there is no fuel to buy. A sharp drop in remittances due to the collapse of the economies of the Gulf states if the war is prolonged will have a multiplier impact particularly on Nepalis' household expenses and the country’s economy in general. This in turn will have a knock-on effect on investment, and affect the RSP government’s main agenda which is to create jobs at home. The vicious cycle will then mean that more Nepalis will want to migrate for overseas jobs, but options in the Gulf may not be available. The RSP’s ministers in government will have to come up with innovative ways to re-integrate Nepalis forced to return because they lose their jobs, or for safety reasons. There are nearly 2 million Nepalis across the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and another 7,000 mainly women caregivers in Israel. “Other than the impact on remittances and the economy, there could be the additional challenge of rescuing over 2 million Nepalis in West Asia if it comes to that,” says Bajracharya. “We don’t have the resources, and we will have to rely on India’s logistical help.” The RSP’s main vote bank was among global Nepalis, who could not cast &nbsp;ballots themselves but influenced families and friends back home to choose the party. Social media was abuzz with slogans that promoted how choosing the RSP would bring their children back home from the Gulf. “The RSP got a majority, and that’s a good thing but voters came together to oppose UML, NC and the Maoists. But there is no clear ideology or philosophy, so while their slogan to bring Nepalis back from the Gulf sounds nice, what would they come back to?” asks Gyawali. The Nepali diaspora in the Gulf that influenced the electorate so effectively will now be looking at how the government it helped get to power in Kathmandu will help as war engulfs the region.&nbsp; There is an almost unrealistically high expectation of the RSP, and the party may not even get the customary 100-day honeymoon period. The cabinet could be put together easily enough, but the bureaucracy, judiciary, police, and the Upper House are all populated by loyalists of the old parties. Despite bad blood, the RSP will have to work together with all parties in the face of the crisis unleashed by the war. And Nepal’s politicised foreign policy must be galvanised to deal with the crisis.

Rough road ahead for new Nepal rulers

The series Nepal Made profiles Nepali products and the people who make them possible While premium beauty product outlets were closing during the Covid-19 pandemic, two young women gambled on setting up a new skin and haircare brand with natural ingredients mostly sourced from Nepal and suited for the Nepali complexion. Arushree Sharma Khatiwada and Megha Agarwal were batchmates in school before they left for studies abroad, returning to set up Avani Nepal after year-long rigorous research into ayurveda-based cosmetic products. Avani in Sanskrit means ‘earth’, and as the name suggests it is committed to bringing all natural, pure and authentic range of beauty solutions.&nbsp; “We found a gap in the Nepali market demand for cosmetics, which is why we decided on a brand sourced from all-natural Himalayan herbs that are not used or explored properly,” says co-founder Khatiwada.&nbsp; Nepal is a treasure trove for medicinal plants and those with therapeutic properties. After all, legend has it that Hanuman flew right across the subcontinent from Sri Lanka to the Himalaya to find a rare medicinal plant to save the life of Lord Ram, who was wounded in battle. When he could not find the specific plant, he tore off a whole mountain and brought it down. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/looking-good-by-doing-good">Looking good by doing good</a>, Sudiksha Tuladhar  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260314120356_32323fd084540236fe4edb3b98286c131d67c73310279c8038510da1e1ae1bc0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20260314120356_32323fd084540236fe4edb3b98286c131d67c73310279c8038510da1e1ae1bc0" data-rendition-name="original" width="3024" height="2012" loading="lazy" alt="Avani"> </figure>  Medicinal plants in Nepal range from yarsagumba to jatamasi and 500 other species traditionally used in the Ayurveda as well as now in the wellness industry. Avani is also trying to experiment hibiscus, Himalayan honey and other plants to eventually launch an export drive. Running a business in Nepal is no easy task, especially for small scale locally crafted products but in a few years, Avani has ammased loyal customer base and have many repeat customers. “While it was tricky initially, we were determined to launch our products with the best quality ingredients and in an affordable price range,” says Khatiwada. Following a worldwide trend and emulating the method used by Korean cosmetic brands, Avani has deployed celebrities and influencers to increase its outreach through tikTok , Facebook and YouTube. &nbsp;Actresses Barsha Shiwakoti and Shilpa Maskey and makeup artists like Lemi have reviewed their products favourably. Sutainability is a big part of the brand, and Avani uses glass bottles, cardboard boxes, paper bags for all its products. Plastic use is cut to a minimum, and where used is recycled.&nbsp; “Many people think that sustainable brands are expensive, we want to bust that myth,” Khatiwada told us. “We focus on being eco-friendly using ethically sourced materials that are paraben, silicon, and cruelty free.”&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/proud-to-wear-dolpo">Proud to wear DOLPO</a>, Vishad Raj Onta  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260314120356_da0d7d4082a9aa51c96ecbcb8a2e7a5bc60e27de202fb339a522036aa3f50b49.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20260314120356_da0d7d4082a9aa51c96ecbcb8a2e7a5bc60e27de202fb339a522036aa3f50b49" data-rendition-name="original" width="1048" height="1280" loading="lazy" alt="Avani"> </figure>  Avani has expanded its business to get a toehold in Nepal’s tourism and wellness industry, and the products are carried by spas in leading hotels and resorts in Kathmandu and Pokhara such as the Terraces, Marriott, and Kavya resort, and is in talk with the Hideaway Resort in Pokhara.&nbsp; The skin and haircare brand that initially started with 10 products has since expanded its line to 60 with goods placed in more than 100 stores across Kathmandu. Plans are in the works to expand to India, China and in Japan partnering with Okada. Avani Nepal’s founders say that they support empowerment through employment and training opportunities for women at the company. Khatiwada herself has been engaged with organisations such as Nepal Women Chamber of Commerce, and Nepal Youth Entrepreneur Forum. Additional support from the government such as the provision of lower excise duties has helped but guidance for export and other business regulations is as crucial. Such an environment would also foster opportunities for the youth who are otherwise moving away for jobs or study abroad. “While everyone is trying to go abroad, opportunities can be created here in Nepal itself, with adequate support from the government,” says Khatiwada. “In the meantime, we are eyeing for long term benefits. We are trying to create a legacy for cosmetic brands in Nepal.” Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/java-in-the-himalaya-y1ilc21h">Java in the Himalaya</a>, Vishad Raj Onta