The rest of the world accounts for 17 percent of tea production globally.
Margarita, a manager of a bar in Moscow, said the exit of alcohol brands such as Pernod Ricard and Brown-Forman from Russia had hurt her business.“Suppliers of alcohol in a bar are usually chosen not only based on the assortment available but also the availability of advertising budgets," Margarita, who asked to be identified by her first name only, told Al Jazeera.
“Budgets come in two types: marketing and listing. Marketing budgets pay bars for branding their interior. Listing is when you mention the alcohol brand name in the bar’s menu – for instance, when a cocktail bears the name of a certain alcohol brand”.Departing brands ultimately also means a reduction in the advertising budgets on which many establishments depend.“‘Well, what can I say, we now serve different alcohol, that is cheaper, brands are less known,” Margarita said.
“It’s sad, but we continue working.”For many Russians who spoke to Al Jazeera about their experiences since the invasion, the corporate exodus has been tolerable.
“In the beginning, it was very unusual to see all the stores closed in the mall. But I am now buying the same brands online,” Guzel, a resident of the central Russian city of Kazan, told Al Jazeera.
“Yes, it is less convenient, you cannot try things on before buying, but that’s a minor problem.”Building a coffee culture in Nagaland is no easy feat, given that decades of unrest left the state in want of infrastructure and almost completely reliant on federal funding. Growing up in the 1990s, when military operations against alleged armed groups were frequent and security forces would often barge into homes, day or night, Humtsoe wanted nothing to do with India.
At one point, he stopped speaking Nagamese – a bridge dialect among the state’s 16 tribes and a creole version of the Indian language, Assamese. But he grew disillusioned with therooted in separatism that armed groups were seeking. And the irony of the state’s dependence on funds from New Delhi hit the now 39-year-old.
Coffee became his own path to self-determination.“From 2016 onwards, I was more of, ‘How can I inspire India?’”