Buyers in Japan, the U.S. and the U.K. bought the specialty tea, named Silver Tips Imperial, for $1,850 per kilo from the Makaibari Tea Estate. The Japanese buyer told the Times of India that the tea will be served for $45 a pot at the Ritz Carlton Tokyo Roppongi Hotel.
Around 500 women picked the tea in June on the eve of the summer solstice between 12:01 a.m. and 3 a.m., Makaibari chairman Rajah Banerjee told the newspaper.
"Leaves plucked during a full moon night make for excellent tea," he said. "This full moon night of June 13 presented a unique planetary configuration that comes once in 108 years."
The Makaibari Tea Estate was established in 1859 in a forest in West Bengal in the eastern region of India, which is the world's second-largest tea producer after China. See below for photos of the extraordinary tea makers at the estate.