Guwahati, Aug. 25 -- Assam, India's tea heartland, has secured three places in the country's first batch of formally certified Tea Sommeliers, underlining the growing push to move beyond tea production and build professional expertise around the beverage.

Bhargav Raj Barkakoty, Jayant Jalan and Pritam Kr Sharma are among seven participants from across India who successfully completed the 60-hour "Essentials of Tea Sommelier" course conducted by Tea Board India at the Darjeeling Tea Research & Development Centre (DTRDC), Kurseong, from August 3 to 9.

The other four successful candidates are Anandh Kumar of Tamil Nadu, Bhumeet Nandal of Haryana, and Akash Deep Roy and Ajay Sashankar of West Bengal.

The course is the first Government-laun...