The story of a famous tea stall in Vizag

Suresh, owner of a tea stall near the District Court (aka Judge Court) in Visakhapatnam talks about how he set up the stall three years ago, along with his brother, and what it means to him.

“This tea stall belongs to my brother Ramu and me. We are three brothers and we stay with our parents. My mother is a housewife and my father is a retired employee. It has been three years since we set up this stall, which is now our main means of livelihood. Thankfully, our stall does not cause any traffic hindrances and we haven’t been asked to shift our locale.

In our stall, we sell tea, coffee, milk, and biscuits. We make two types of teas. One is cinnamon and the other is ginger flavoured. The ginger tea, which is our specialty, has an invigorating aroma that rejuvenates the customers. Another thing that sets us apart is the fact that we are open even during the weekends.

We have a wide range of customers coming to our stall. Be it the college students, or the office employees, or even the passers-by, everyone enjoys our beverages. While we use the normal tea powder as the base, the flavour additives make the difference.

We open at 5.30 AM in the morning and serve up to 8.00 PM in the night with a lunch break in between. We earn up to Rs 2,000 per day, which proves enough to manage our day-to-day needs. We are pretty much happy and satisfied that our basic necessities are catered to with this income.
I have never thought of getting a second income and presently, we are entirely committed towards this stall. Our primary focus is to develop this stall by making further additions, such as green tea or black coffee, which may attract more customers.“

The famous Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu, once said. “Tea is the elixir of life”. While Suresh might not be aware of this quote, he is certainly playing a part in fulfilling this in the lives of many Vizagites.