I would like to find a place I can buy a loose tea called kanan devan.
 this is made by the tata tea company and can be seen on their website
here: http://www.tatatea.com/gbd_branded.htm
the product page for the packet version is here:
http://www.tatatea.com/pro_packettea_kanan.htm

I would prefer the loose variety.

Tata tea also owns the tetley tea company if this helps.

I would prefer an online store in the USA but will accept as an answer:
a retail store in Houston TX 
a retail store that will ship to me in Houston, 
OR 
a foreign store that will ship the tea to me in houston texas

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Clarification of Question by pcmods-ga on 05 Jan 2004 22:20 PST

I would be willing to purchase more than "regular retail" - for
example, I would be willing to buy a case of tea which I could then
share with other tea drinkers I know who are also interested.  This
might make it somewhat easier.

I did contact tata directly and ask them for help with this several
months ago, but I didn't get any answer at all.

I first became acquainted with this tea through my uncle, who got it
from an Indian co-worker of his who brought it from India. 
Unfortunately, this avenue is now closed to us.

Any other questions... let me know...

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Request for Question Clarification by aht-ga on 06 Jan 2004 13:45 PST

pcmods-ga:

I am posting this first as a clarification, because I am not in the
Houston area and therefore am not able to call up any of these stores
to find out if they can bring in Kanan Devan tea for you.

From the http://www.houstonindia.us/ website, I was able to find a
list of Houston-area Indian Grocers:

Awami Markez  12365 Bissonnet St. Houston, TX 77099 Ph 218-498-1694 
Bombay Imports   13219 Bellaire Blvd. Houston, TX 77083 Ph 281-495-6674 
Dillon Grocery  6802 Telephone Rd. Houston, TX 77061 Ph 713-645-0765 
Eros Groceries  11305 Bissonnet Street, Houston, TX 77099 Ph 281-530-9210 
Essence of Asia   1730 Williams Trace Ste G, Sugarland, TX 77478 Ph 281-265-2100 
Halal Meats Middle East   9651 Bissonnet St. #201, Houston, TX 77036
Ph 713-771-6464
House of Spices   5600 Hartsdale Drive, Houston, TX 77036 Ph 713-266-5224 
India Grocers   6606 Southwest Freeway, Houston, TX 77074 Ph 713-266-7717 
India Mart   5604 Hillcroft Avenue, Houston, TX 77036 Ph 713-782-8578 
Keemat Grocers   5621 Hillcroft Ave, Houston, TX 77036 Ph 713-781-2892 
Majid Food Market  7050, Sherman St, Houston, TX 77011 Ph 713-926-2015 
New Asia Food Market   7844 Ave E, Houston, TX 77012 Ph 713-921-5652 
Patel Mart   14445 State Highway 249 S. Houston, TX 77086 Ph 281-537-2057 
Rahman   10230 East Fwy. Houston, TX 77023 Ph 713-676-1933 
Savoy  11246 S.Wilcrest St., #145, Houston, TX 77099 Ph 281-568-6773 

Kanan Devan tea is sold exclusively in the states of Goa, Karnataka,
Tamil Nadu, and Kerala (see
http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/india/india-political-map.htm for
locations).

From the names of the stores, I was not able to determine any that may
specialize in Southern India groceries. I have already culled out the
ones where the name suggested a Northern specialization.

I suggest you call them up (start with Bombay Imports, highest
likelihood) and ask! If you find this information useful and would
like me to post it as the Answer, please let me know.

Good luck,

aht-ga
Google Answers Researcher

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Clarification of Question by pcmods-ga on 10 Jan 2004 07:24 PST

Thanks for putting the list together and the additional information,
it is not something I could have accomplished by myself.  I appreciate
the effort and I will accept this as the answer.
Thank you very much,
Carl

Carl,

Thanks for accepting the list above as your Answer.

Good luck with the search! As Kanan Devan tea is supposed to have a
large market share in the southern Indian states, hopefully that
translates into a strong-enough demand in the local East Indian
community that there are already imports going on.

Regards,

aht-ga
Google Answers Researcher

You did not mention the quantity ?

You might want to ask your Indian friends where the nearest Indian
grocery store is. You might find it there, else you can put in a
request with the shopkeeper

Cheers,
aditya2k

Unfortunately I don't have contact with that person, he got
transferred.  I don't have any other Indian friends...

Here is the reply I got from Tata.

Dear Aditya:

Glad to know that you are looking for tea.

For Houston

It's available in several stores.  However, you are welcome to contact
our distributor Mr. Imran Munshi at Zeenat Inc (713-781-2217).

Are you in Souther California?  we are distributo of Tata Tea and our address is:


Amtrade, Inc.
303 Fifth Avenue
Suite # 1303
New York, NY 10016
Tel.: (212) 725-0679
Fax: (212) 725-0718

Regards,
Tejen Sen