Having noted the thread on Ahmad Tea that become a discussion about Russian tea and thence Georgian tea, and the response to the brick tea thread, it is perhaps time to tell what I am doing in Georgia.
Since March this year, I have been working on the rehabilitation of the Georgian tea industry First some history: after the Glorious Revolution the Soviets looked for a place to grow tea. Russia was not climatically suitable but Georgia was found to be capable of producing some good bushes of China type tea. Post WW2 the tea crop in Georgia went up from 11,400 tonnes (1940) to 83,100 (1975) to 140,500 tonnes (1985), all of this destined for the USSR. Georgia was supplying about 90% of the USSR requirement. Then came Chernobyl in 1986, and the break up of the USSR in 1991. After Chernobyl Russia commenced import from India (against arms exports), and when the "free" market was set up, from Sri Lanka, now No.1 supplier to Russia. After her independence Georgia went through a civil war 92 to 95. As you can imagine, growing tea was not the highest priority, and the fields and factories suffered, so much so that the crop in 2001 was only 5,000 tonnes – just 4% of the peak crop in the 1980's.
To produce such a large crop the Soviets modified the orthodox machinery format originally borrowed from the old British colonial days. They built the machines bigger and stronger and made it into a continuous process, introduced mechanical harvesting and technology to maximise volume production. The only thing that suffered was quality, and O My how it suffered! Tea made from bush clippings including old leaf and twigs and branches. Tea that was as black as ink, and about as tasty. Tea that barely ever scraped into the lax ISO specifications of tea.
Now when I go round some of the vast abandoned echoing factories, with their crumbling concrete and rusting machines, and faded posters exhorting quality (!) and mosaics showing earth mother pluckers and be-muscled machine technicians, it is difficult to believe they were so productive. But like a germinating seed Georgian tea making is making a resurgence, growing strongly through the ruins. However, like all seedlings it may survive or die depending on the conditions it encounters.
I have accepted the challenge and am supplying consultancy advice to a grouping of six entrepreneurial companies who are trying to throw off the old image of volume production and evil quality. Admittedly that will be difficult to achieve as to improve they have to invest from their own pockets, and that investment has to come from sales, that will only occur when the tea is improved. A circular problem to be sure, but previously it was a downward spiral!
The future of Georgian tea has to be as a premium specialty tea , not as a bulk producer. Since March I have been able to make some changes to the process, to teach a better understanding of quality, to reinforce the need for good quality green leaf. Last year's tea samples were bad. This year's tea samples, so far, are mainly better, some are very good. I am there again in August and I am expecting samples made then to be much improved. .
I sincerely hope that r.f.d.t devotees will take an interest in this potential new origin of specialty tea. We are planning a Georgian tea web site, but until that is running please feel free to ask questions, make observations, or to reserve free tasting samples via snipped-for-privacy@teacraft.com
Nigel at Teacraft