Tea - who doesn't love him? It is difficult to imagine at least one day without having to drink a mug of this fragrant and warming drink. The most common types of tea are Chinese and Indian. Loved the product of these countries for their special quality. Less common in Russia are varieties of the neighboring countries - sunny Georgia.
Tea growing in Georgia
Even during the reign of the tsar, they tried to grow their tea in the empire, because the fashion for tea drinking was rooted in the country for a long time. And many dreamed of having their own plantations. Georgian tea in industrial quantities was the first to be grown by a captive Englishman who entered Georgian territory and married a local woman. Prior to this, all attempts to grow tea bushes were unsuccessful either by wealthy landowners or church officials.
At the tea exhibition in 1864, "Caucasian Tea" was first presented to the general public, but since its quality was low, it was necessary to add a product from China to it.
Improving the quality of Georgian tea
At the beginning of the twentieth century, they began to seriously work on the technology of growing and collecting tea leaves. High varieties of Georgian tea were created. These are "Dyadyushkin's Tea", "Zedoban", "Athlete" and "Kara-Dere". A larger number of tea buds (tips) were added to their composition. And due to the improvement of technology, they could safely compete in the battle for quality with the best Chinese varieties.
Soviet tea
When the time came for Soviet power, Georgian tea was in the field of special vision. In 1920, plantations were created in almost every territory of Georgia in order to increase production volumes and completely abandon foreign drinks. Entire scientific organizations have been created to improve the technology, quality and volume of tea collection. By 1970, the collection of fragrant leaves was at its peak - now you could even send them for export to other countries.
Tea quality deterioration
But, as it happens, with an increase in collection, the quality was greatly reduced. Georgian tea is no longer properly collected, chasing quantity, and tea machines do not pick fresh leaves, but take everything in a row, not like human hands. Because of this, dry old leaves began to get into the composition, the number of kidneys also decreased.
The technology of drying the leaf changed - instead of drying twice, they began to dry only once, then the tea underwent heat treatment, due to which the aroma and taste were lost.
In the last years of the life of the USSR, the aforementioned production fell by half, and even then not all of the product was delivered to consumers - half simply went to recycling. Thus, Georgian tea, once famous, received the title of a low-grade product, suitable only in the absence of the best.
Krasnodar tea
People simply stopped buying tea collected on the territory of a great power. The most popular was Indian tea, while Georgian continued to gather dust on store shelves and warehouses. It was urgent to come up with an alternative, because whole plantations were gone, the workers had nothing to pay. A tea riot was approaching.
But, as it turned out, everything ingenious is simple! With the words: "Oh, where ours did not disappear!" - The factory blended Indian and Georgian tea. In this way, one of the best products of the USSR - "Krasnodar Tea" was created. Its taste favorably differed from pure Georgian, and the price was much lower than that of foreign drinks.
Georgian tea now
None of the varieties of Georgian tea from the era of the USSR have reached our time. During the restructuring, the plantations were abandoned and abandoned, tea bushes died. Those varieties that are produced now are worse than the first ones grown at the very beginning of production, but much better than those that were produced in recent years of the USSR.
At the moment there are two of the best species, the producers of which are Samaya and Gurieli. These teas have worked well in the modern market, deservedly receiving the title of a product of medium quality or first grade (do not confuse with the highest). It is slightly worse in taste than Indian, Chinese and English varieties, but the price of these teas is more attractive today.
The revival of Georgia’s tea has just begun, it is hoped that soon it will occupy the same position as a product of the highest quality and will pour into our lives a golden stream of taste and aroma.