Teja vs S-17 Chilli: Are They the Same Variety?

In Guntur-belt trade parlance, "Teja" and "S-17" most commonly refer to the same high-pungency hybrid — S-17 is the seed line's code name, and Teja is the commercial name it's traded under further down the chain. Some suppliers use the two terms interchangeably; a smaller number use "S-17" specifically for the seed/planting stage and "Teja" for the traded dry chilli. Either way, a buyer asking "Teja or S-17?" as if choosing between two chillies is usually asking a question that doesn't apply — worth confirming which convention your specific supplier uses rather than assuming a difference exists.

This naming overlap is exactly the kind of ambiguity our spice grading terms glossary exists to clear up — variety names travel informally through the trade and aren't standardised the way HS codes or lab parameters are.

These are typical positioning, not guaranteed figures for any specific lot — pungency and colour genuinely shift with season, soil and growing conditions within every one of these varieties. Treat the table as a starting point for which variety to ask about, not a substitute for a tested result on your actual shipment.

Whichever name your supplier uses, the specification that actually protects your order is a tested Scoville Heat Unit (SHU) result and ASTA colour value for the specific lot being shipped — not the variety name alone. This is the same principle our Teja chilli buyer's guide covers for that variety on its own: name the variety and required heat range in your enquiry, then confirm it against a lab result before the order is placed, not after.

Teja (S-17) is available within our dry red chilli range alongside 334 and Sannam S4, sourced from the Guntur belt — variety naming, heat level and stemless/with-stem processing are all confirmed with the supplying source at enquiry stage. If a supplier's quote names one term and a buyer's enquiry names the other, we confirm which variety is actually meant before quoting.