Tea it is sometimes served with biscuits to be dipped in the tea and eaten before consuming the tea. More often than not, it is drunk in "doses" of small cups (referred to as "Cutting" chai if sold at street tea vendors) rather than one large cup. On 21 April 2012, the Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission (India), Montek Singh Ahluwalia, said tea would be declared as national drink by April 2013. The move is expected to boost the tea industry in the country. Speaking on the occasion, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said a special package for the tea industry
Fermented tea abandoned it for fear of contamination. The next year, nearby villages suffered from dysentery, and decided to drink the abandoned mildewed tea in desperation. The legend concludes that the tea cured those suffering, and quickly became popular. More historical accounts attribute the production of dark tea to the Ming Dynasty in the 15th and 16th centuries. It may have been first traded by tea merchants much earlier than the legends state, in areas on the borders of China and Tibet. Fermented teas can be divided according to how they are produced. Piled teas, such as the Chinese post-fermented teas, and