There are many coffee
cafes in Tbilisi, Georgia, but there are also tea houses. And Georgia grows its
own tea.
Tea was first grown in
Georgia from 1847 with its first stocks from China. Prince Miha Eristavi
travelled to China and tasted the tea and he considered Georgia to have ideal
growing conditions for tea. He was right, but only in west Georgia, in the
Guria region, where the climate is more subtropical. But there was a problem.
Taking tea leaves and cuttings from China, and any exporting of the commodity,
was banned. It is said that Prince Eristavi hid tea seeds in a length of bamboo
to smuggle out of China. From these initial seeds sprang the first cultivation
of tea in Georgia.
Lao Jin Jao, a Chinese
tea farmer, had a commission to produce tea in Georgia, and arrived in 1893. In
1899 Georgia tea was entered into the exhibition in Paris and it won a gold
medal.
Georgian tea is both
black tea and green tea. In 1920 the Tea and Subtropical Cultures Research
Institute was established in Anaseuli, West Georgia, where new varieties were
grown, focusing on aromas.
Georgia began
supplying tea to the Soviet Union, but due to the increase in volume the
quality suffered. Georgia was producing a peak of 152,000 tons in 1985 in
67,000 hectares of land – by 180,000 people. Tea production suffered a massive
slump after the collapse of the Soviet Union and some tea plantations in
Georgia were cut down.
In recent years, from
about 2010, tea enthusiasts and growers restored the tea plantations in Guria
and Ozurgeti regions. Although the land for tea growing is only about 10,000-20,000
hectares, and production has declined from the golden years of the 1980s to
1,800 tons in 2014, with about 15,000 small-scale tea growers, quality has
improved. Georgia is one of the northern-most tea harvesting regions in the
world. Georgian tea is ecologically clean because tea growers don’t use
pesticides as the climate deters natural pests. The cool West Georgian climate
and acidic soil is ideal for green tea. Tea leaves mature slowly, which
eliminates the bitterness in its after-taste.
The top 5 countries
for importing tea in 2014 (by total volume of production in tons) were: (1)
Turkey, (2) Iran, (3) Sri Lanka, (4) Azerbaijan, and (5) United Arab Emirates.
The top 5 countries for exporting tea in 2014 were: (1) Mongolia, (2) Turkey,
(3) Germany, (4) Russian Federation, and (5) Kazakhstan.
The Georgian Ministry
of Agriculture has recently formed a committee to develop a strategy for the
tea industry.
Georgian Guria tea is
one of the best in the world. I have had tea from China to India to Pakistan to
Afghanistan and beyond, and I can attest to the excellent quality of Georgian
tea. I particularly like Georgian tea for its golden colour and magnificent
aroma, which is important for the anticipation of its taste. And there is no
bitter after-taste. My second favourite place for tea is Pakistan, where there
is consistently superb tea.
In some tea shops in
Tbilisi they not only sell tea, and serve tea, but they support local artists
who paint designs on teapots and cups.
http://georgiatoday.ge/news/651/Tea%3A-a-Potential-Gold-Mine-of-Georgian-Agriculture%3F
MARTINA NICOLLS is an international
aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of
Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet
(2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
Comments
Post a Comment