Recently I've written a blogpost on tea in German with the same title [1]. It is also an account on my recent travels through Georgia, so I tranlated and enhanced the German text into what follows.
Since I was travelling through Georgia, I read up on Georgian tea, which is not that easy [2]. Georgia used to be the fifth largest tea producer in the world, but I'm getting ahead of myself here. Older readers may still know the tea as Grusinian tea, which goes back to the Russian term (Грузинский чай), but it's better to say Georgian tea (in Georgian: ქართული ჩაი), which is pronounced "kartuli chai".
The German Wikipedia article has a paragraph about Georgian tea [3], in which we learn that tea has been grown in Georgia in its own hybrids since the middle of the 19th century, that this tea had gained popularity, and that during the Soviet Union up to 152,000 tonnes (new estimation) were produced annually. The market and cultivation collapsed with the downfall of the Soviet Union and again during the Caucasus War in 2008. The Georgian tea producer Gurieli is once again growing tea near Zugdidi, mainly for the Georgian market. Zugdidi (Georgian: ზუგდიდი) [4] is a small town in western Georgia, on the border with Abkhazia and is about 110 m above sea level. But that doesn't mean anything, because the altitude rises quickly to the east of the town, so it is difficult to judge the quality of the tea from Zugdidi's altitude.
There are two articles on Wikipedia in Russian and Georgian that are very different from each other and that I had translated in order to be able to evaluate them [5]. I have also evaluated commercial sites on the Internet [6]. In this context, I would like to point out the two articles about old tea tins from Georgia [7]. And I've found now, looking more into English articles one overview article by Paul Rimple on a commercial site called „culinary backstreets“: „Something Brewing: Georgia’s Tea Renaissance“ [8].
I have to choose from the extensive history of tea cultivation and there are four phases: the very early, when tea arrived in Georgia (19th century), the early 20th century, the Soviet era and the state of tea in Georgia today.
The first tea bushes were planted in 1809 in Mamiya V. Guriel's garden. The Guriel brand is now Georgia's leading tea producer. Miha Eristavi smuggled seeds from China and established the first tea plantation in Georgia's west in 1847, because the climate was favorable. In the second half of the 19th century, the construction of the railway line proved to be an important factor in the development of the tea regions. I had previously read similar thoughts about India and Ceylon [9].
At the end of the 19th century, Lao Jinzhao came to Georgia at the age of 23 and devoted himself to tea cultivation there. He came from a Chinese noble family, but I have not been able to find the correct Chinese spelling of his name; I've tried several combinations of Chinese characters, but could not find him mentioned in Chinese. Some of his personal items are on display in the Ajara Museum in Batumi [10]. In 1900, his tea won at the Paris World Exhibition.
There were already tea plantations at the beginning of the Soviet era, which were expanded in the 1930s. In the 1970s, two developments could be observed: in addition to the increase in the volume of Georgian tea production, there also was a progressive loss of quality. During the mechanical tea harvest, not only the upper, young leaves and tips were harvested, but also the lower, old and coarse leaves, and sometimes even twigs. In addition, harvesting also took place during wet weather, which of couse reduces the quality of the tea.
After independence, sales markets disappeared and many plantations became overgrown. In 1993-1995 and 2008, the wars led to a drastic reduction in tea production. Today, if you look carefully at the landscape, you drive past old plantations by bus or train; sorry no pictures, I've just checked the memory card for failed and uncopied pictures from the bus. A lot of infrastructure has been lost. The recultivation of the overgrown tea fields is hardly affordable for a farmer with a normal income. In addition to the economic consequences, there are also social consequences, because tea-growing culture was an essential part of life and identification in many villages.
Today, tea is being grown again in Georgia, mainly for domestic consumption, which has not yet been met, and little for export, from which the country's economy could benefit. Traditionally, more green tea was produced than black tea. There was also very little yellow tea. There are also organic teas, which are produced by at least one small company. Paul Rimple writes about „ an old Georgian technique, by using a wide-bottomed glass wine decanter for extraction control“ and serving the tea into wine glasses. Tea is widely served in glass instead of porcelain in Europe as well the Middle East including Turkey.
Georgia's black tea tastes mild and a little sour. „You gotta try it!“
Links and Annotations:
[1] Grusinischer oder besser georgischer Tee https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2024/10/grusinischer-oder-besser-georgischer-tee.html
[2] OK, you can make it easy for yourself, but then you won't learn much. And I'm not one of those people who make it too easy for themselves.
[3] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwarzer_Tee#Georgien The article is in German and is the section on Georgian tea, which the English article does not have.
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zugdidi
[5] https://ka.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%83%A5%E1%83%90%E1%83%A0%E1%83%97%E1%83%A3%E1%83%9A%E1%83%98_%E1%83%A9%E1%83%90%E1%83%98 and https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%93%D1%80%D1%83%D0%B7%D0%B8%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D1%87%D0%B0%D0%B9
[6] https://www.georgia-insight.eu/georgien/kueche/tee and https://www.die-teeseite.de/tee-aus-georgien.php
[7] https://www.tea-terra.ru/2013/07/02/1766/#more-1766 and https://radion-gz-china.livejournal.com/256671.html
[8] https://culinarybackstreets.com/cities-category/tbilisi/2018/something-brewing/ Published on February 06, 2018.
[9] William H. Ukers, All About Tea, 2 volumes. New York 1935. May now be viewed in digital form: https://www.univie.ac.at/Geschichte/China-Bibliographie/blog/2018/03/22/ukers-all-about-tea/
[10] https://ajaramuseums.ge/en/museums/brothers/Lao-Jin-Zhao-and-Georgian-tea and
https://ajaramuseums.ge/en/museums/brothers/Personal-belongings-of-Lao-Jinjao
PS: The first picture shows flowers on a tea bush in Batumi's Botanical Garden.
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