Growing tea in Georgia. From plantations to table: how Georgian tea is made

tart and sharp, but with a velvety peculiar taste, unlike others. In Soviet times, the country could be proud of tea grown in Georgia.

History of appearance

By the early 19th century, tea drinking had become a tradition in Russia, which led to the idea of ​​tea production in the territory of the Russian Empire. Production attempts have been made more than once, but the established activity to create a tea drink was established only during the Soviet era. After the Crimean War, the first tea plantations were taken up by an English officer living in Georgia.

Tea growing in Georgia began to develop significantly in Soviet times. In the 1920s, a project to develop the tea business began to operate. For its implementation, tea factories were built and tea plantations began to be actively planted. In 1948, Ksenia Bakhtadze was the very first in breeding varieties - Georgian No. 1 and Georgian No. 2. In the future, several more high-quality varieties were bred and Ksenia was awarded the Stalin Prize. By the late 1970s, many varieties were exported and enjoyed tremendous success. At that time, the production of black baikhov, green leaf, brick, and tile was already established. But the downside was that the quality began to decrease with the production volumes. Manual picking was replaced by mechanical picking, which led to a deterioration in quality. During mechanical assembly, not only the upper young, but also old coarse leaves began to fall into the composition. The quality was also influenced by the collection in wet weather. The technology for drying the sheet has changed - the sheet has been dried once, and not twice, as it was before. Due to this, taste and aroma were significantly lost. Over time, production declined as there were a lot of scrap. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the production of Georgian tea ceased. Gradually, tea growing began to improve, but the former positions cannot be returned.

None of the varieties of Georgian tea of ​​the USSR era has survived to our time. During the rebuilding, the plantations were in disrepair and perished. Those varieties that are produced in modern times do not convey the taste of those grown at the beginning of production, but much better than those produced in the last years of the Soviet Union.

Black tea

The origin of this drink is associated with the Chinese Keemun tea. The more tips in the composition, the better the quality. It has a rich color, light taste and original aroma. If it is used with admixtures of Indian and Ceylon, then natural taste qualities disguised, since the taste of the latter is sharper. The positive factor of Georgian black tea is its ability to extract quickly.

The downsides are: shoots, dust, old leaves in the drink; violation of technology; application of reduced production technologies. It was these shortcomings that created a bad reputation for tea, which has survived to this day.

Types of tea

• Bouquet of Georgia;
• Extra;
• Top grade;
• First grade;
• Second grade.

Extra and a bouquet of Georgia amazed by their amazing taste and the highest quality. They were made exclusively from the upper leaves of the bush and contained a large number of tips. The quality of the first grade was already lower, due to the fact that the collection was not very pure and included shoots. The second grade was carried out using special machines and contained foreign inclusions.

Georgian tea 36 and Vivacity were especially popular. The basis was made by Georgian tea material, but significantly mixed with Ceylon and Indian.

Green tea

All types of green leafy Georgian tea were numbered from 10 to 125. Each number indicated quality, that is, # 10 was of the lowest quality and # 125 was of the highest grade. Tea Georgian bouquet and Extra were considered the best varieties at the global level. The first, second and third grade were of lower quality, but the third grade was not bad either. In the republics of Central Asia, Georgian green tea No.95, which has a characteristic tart taste, was very popular.

Brewing tea in Georgian

The main feature of the Georgian method of brewing tea is that the teapot heats up to a temperature of 100 C, but it must be dry inside. It is unacceptable to rinse the kettle with hot water. Then dry tea leaves (1.5 teaspoons per glass) are poured into the kettle, heated to the desired temperature, and hot water is poured in a small stream. You need to stand for three minutes and you can start drinking tea. The aroma is released due to the double heat treatment tea. Such a tea drink prepared according to the right recipe has an exceptional and unique aroma.

Undoubtedly, at that time in Georgia and not only, Bouquet and Extra tea were considered the most elite. Today tea production in Georgia is poorly developed. The factory in Chakwa produces brick green tea ny drink for the peoples of Central Asia.

Tea No. 36 Georgian black long tea - In the early years of Soviet power, apparently, there were no problems with tea - tea (Indian) was bought in Torgsins and shops of colonial goods. Tea was packed in special tin boxes.

In the 20s of the twentieth century, a state program for the development of tea business in Georgia was adopted. The breeding work was put on a scientific basis, for this the Anaseul Research Institute of Tea, Tea Industry and Subtropical Crops was established.

Several dozen tea factories were built in different regions of Western Georgia. To replace the manual collection of tea, special tea harvesters have been developed. In 1986, production finished products reached 150 thousand tons, slab black and green - 8 thousand tons, green brick - 9 thousand tons.

Today we offer you real Georgian tea No. 36 so familiar to the older generation. In terms of its quality, modern tea is in no way inferior to the rarity produced in the twentieth century !!!

The Georgian SSR as part of the Soviet Union was on a special account. This was due to objective factors. First, Joseph Stalin was born in Georgia. In addition, other Georgians, such as Grigory Ordzhonikidze and Lavrenty Beria, were in the composition of the supreme power in the USSR. Political activity in the Georgian SSR has always been very high, and the cult of Stalin, for obvious reasons, was especially strong.

Special provision

In the Georgian SSR, a favorable economic regime was created. The republic annually received substantial subsidies from the union budget. The level of consumption per capita in Georgia was 4 times higher than the same indicator of production. In the RSFSR, the consumption rate was only 75% of the production level.

After Nikita Khrushchev's famous report on the exposure of the personality cult on February 14, 1956, mass uprisings began in Tbilisi. Already on March 4, people began to gather at the monument to Stalin in the Georgian capital, the communist Parastishvili climbed onto the pedestal of the monument, drank wine from a bottle and, breaking it, said: "Let Stalin's enemies die just like this bottle!"

Peaceful rallies lasted for five days. On the night of March 10, wanting to send a telegram to Moscow, a crowd of thousands went to the telegraph office. Fire was opened on it. According to the Georgian Interior Ministry, 15 people were killed and 54 injured during the suppression of the riots, 7 died in hospitals, 200 people were arrested.

The dismantling of monuments to Stalin began throughout the Union, only in Gori, in the homeland of the "leader of the peoples", with the special permission of Khrushchev, the monument was left. For a long time it remained the most famous monument to Stalin, but it was also dismantled in our time, on the night of June 25, 2010. By order of Mikhail Saakashvili.

Guilt

Georgia cannot but be associated with wines, and the Georgian in the cultural field of the Soviet Union invariably played the role of toastmaster and connoisseur of long beautiful toasts. The Georgian SSR was one of the main and oldest wine-growing regions of the Soviet Union, and Georgian wines have become an internationally recognized brand. It is known that at the Yalta Conference, Stalin treated Winston Churchill to the Georgian wine Khvanchkara, after which the British minister became a devoted connoisseur of this brand.

Stalin himself loved the Kindzmarauli, Khvanchkara and Madjari wines.

High quality table and fortified wines were produced in Georgia. The production of grape wines was carried out by Samtrest enterprises, which included exemplary state farms: Tsinandali, Napareuli, Mukuzani, Kvareli in Kakheti and Vartsikhe in the western part of Georgia. The champagne complex produced Soviet champagne and grape wines. By the 1960s, Georgia produced 26 brands of wines: 12 dry table, 7 semi-sweet, 5 strong, sweet dessert 2.

Tourism

Due to the optimal climatic conditions, the Georgian SSR was a real tourist Mecca of the Soviet Union. For Soviet citizens, Georgian resorts replaced Turkey, Egypt, and other hot foreign countries. In the resort Abkhazia, which was part of the Georgian SSR, there were the most fashionable resorts of the USSR, Pitsunda and Gagra.

During the Soviet era, Georgia was the best training base for Soviet alpine skiers. Also Georgia in general and Svaneti in particular became the main mountaineering bases of the Soviet Union.

Alpiniads and bit ascents to the peaks of the Caucasus Mountains were periodically held here. A great contribution to the development of Soviet mountaineering and rock climbing was made by Mikhail Vissarionovich Khergiani, 7-time champion of the USSR and Honored Master of Sports of the Soviet Union.

Georgian tea

Besides wine, the Georgian SSR was famous for its tea. Its quality, according to William Pokhlebkin, was competitive (at the world level), albeit with reservations.
Despite the fact that attempts to establish and organize tea production have been made in Georgia since the middle of the 19th century, its quality left much to be desired, and the volume of plantations did not even reach 900 hectares.

In the early 1920s, young plantations were planted in Georgia, and active and fruitful breeding work began. In 1948, Ksenia Bakhtadze managed to develop artificial hybrid varieties of tea: "Georgian No. 1" and "Georgian No. 2". For them, she was awarded the Stalin Prize. The variety "Georgian breeding No. 8" obtained later was able to withstand frosts down to -25. This variety has become a real sensation.

During the Soviet era, Georgian tea became a brand known outside the Union. In the late 70s, it was already exported to Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Poland, East Germany, Hungary, Romania, Finland, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, South Yemen and Mongolia.

Flowers, tangerines and the shadow economy

Soviet people did not know much about the specifics of the ethnic diversity of the Caucasian peoples, so the image of a Georgian, resourceful and wealthy businessman, was rather collective. However, in some ways he was correct.

Partly industrial production The Georgian SSR did not give the Soviet Union so much, but the Georgians provided Soviet citizens with everything necessary for the holidays: citrus fruits, wine, tea, tobacco, mineral water.

The Georgian SSR, according to economist Kennan Eric Scott of the Washington Institute, supplied 95% of tea and 97% of tobacco to Soviet counters. The lion's share of citrus fruits (95%) also went to the regions of the USSR from Georgia.

In his speech at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, Eric Smith also noted that Georgians played a significant role in shaping shadow economy Of the Soviet Union, forming the market of the late USSR according to the type of “diaspora competition”.

Tea plantations are located in the Tsalenjikha region in northwestern Georgia. Once local drink the quality was not inferior to the Ceylon and Indian ones. After the collapse of the USSR, its production fell sharply, and today Georgian tea is experiencing a period of revival.

MANUAL LABOR

They began to grow tea in Georgia even under tsarist Russia. The first bushes appeared in the Batumi region at the beginning of the 20th century. Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, up to 600 thousand tons of tea leaves were collected annually in Georgia. Today, they are trying to revive large-scale production with the help of foreign investments. The taste and economic prospects of Georgian tea interested the Chinese. There is even a kind of irony in this. Initially, tea was brought to Georgia from China.

“This tea is from the Semin province. We were visited by 12 Chinese specialists who examined our products. They did not expect that Georgian tea could have such a quality. Here these bushes have acquired the best properties, ”says CEO Goneri Salia.

Tea top grade collected only by hand. The younger and thinner the sheet, the more expensive the raw material. The tea harvesting season runs from May to September. For a seven-hour shift, an experienced specialist can collect 10-12 kilograms. For this they will pay about $ 25.

A month later, the bush is overgrown with young leaves again. Tea is harvested by hand about 10 times per season. At the end of September, the turn of the mechanical assembly begins. Tea of ​​lower grades and value is made from such raw materials.

FACTORY TIPS

It turns out that black and green tea are the same bushes. The taste and color of the future drink is determined in production during processing.

“Thick leaves are more suitable for green tea, while the tender top leaves make good black long tea", - explains the manager of the tea plantation Nona Kvaratskhelia.

At the end of the working day, the tea collection is taken to the factory. She began to work in the late 50s of the last century and provided tea for all Soviet Union... Today, production volumes are much smaller. Mainly green tea is produced.

In the future, black tea of ​​the highest grade should be obtained from green raw materials. Now in production, both Georgian and Chinese technology are used in parallel. She means maximum use manual labor. This is the only way to create an exceptional elite drink.

In special bags, sheets wither. This happens at a certain temperature for four to five hours. All this time, the green mass is thoroughly mixed and blown with warm air. This is to dehydrate the tea leaves. They must lose up to 55% moisture. Only then do they begin to twist them.

“At this stage, leaf cells are destroyed. This determines the color and flavor. The more cells we destroy, the better. Then the fermentation process takes place, and the tea turns black, ”says Goneri Salia.

Fermentation is where the secret and magic of black tea is. At this time, the main chemical processes of tea transformation, the formation of its taste and color, take place. The process is closely monitored by a specialist. Any changes are important. When a special aroma and golden color develops, the tea can be dried.

PLEASANT TEA

It takes about 32 hours from the tea leaves harvested at the plantation to the finished product. It is surprising that tea harvested from some bushes, thanks to various preparation technologies, significantly differs in its taste.

Of course, there is no consensus on taste and color. Choosing between the aroma of traditional Georgian tea and the richness of a drink produced using Chinese technology, everyone will definitely find something of their own. But no matter which drink the consumer prefers, it is important that behind each tea leaf at the bottom of the cup there is a lot of work, skill and warmth of hands.

Quite good tea is grown and sold in Georgia.

True, not all Georgian tea is good) I'll tell you how tasty it is and which is not.

Bastian knows which one to steal)

Georgian tea by weight

In the markets you can find great amount loose tea. It is so cheap that it is even suspicious to buy it)

It is large-leaved, but not at all fragrant. And with an unusual taste for us.

In general, I cannot recommend it. We tried it once - and I don't feel like it anymore.

For sale different types such as blueberry leaf. There is plenty to choose from, but I cannot guarantee that you will be satisfied with the result.

Maradidi tea

Georgian Maradidi tea can be bought in stores. I met only in mini-markets, those on the first floors of houses.

It is very similar to the weighed one. It is also cheap - 3 GEL per 200 grams. And also not very tasty.

The rest of the teas, which I will tell you about, are also not expensive - the price is around 3-4 GEL per 100 grams.

This instance is already more interesting.

Remember Indian Elephant Tea? That tastes exactly like that.

Just a rich taste of black tea.

And with what love it is described by the manufacturer!

Gurieli

Gurieli is a very popular Georgian tea. It can be bought in almost any store, both in the form of sheets and in sachets. It is also often served in a cafe.

This tea is an order of magnitude better than the above. Tastier, more aromatic.

Nice black tea with bergamot.

And just black with no additives.

But I can't advise green with jasmine. There is a lot of flavoring, even chemistry.

Don't be fooled by the word export on the packaging)

Rcheuli tea is also very popular. I personally like him a lot less than Gurieli.

There are many different flavors, including fruit flavors. But he's kind of weird.

Berga

Berga tea is not Georgian, but is sold in almost all stores and is delicious.

This is Azerbaijani tea, black (and as the name implies) with bergamot.

Delicious, aromatic, full-bodied.

Azercaj

The name seems to hint that tea is also not Georgian, but you can buy it on almost every corner.

Enjoy your tea! Ciao!