Previously, Georgian tea was quite recognizable. During the years of the USSR, it was sold in very convenient tin cans, which could then be used for various purposes. What do we really know about this drink? When did Georgian tea culture begin, and what varieties is it famous for?
Tea culture of Georgia
Tea was first grown in Georgia during the Crimean War. According to legend, an English officer fell in love with a Georgian girl, and it was she who contributed to Georgia becoming his home. After some time, this officer decided to start cultivating tea plantations.
Another version says that tea came to Georgia from China. But be that as it may, it all started small, but, nevertheless, already at the end of the 18th century, Caucasian tea took part in the exhibition. However, at that time the quality of the drink was quite low.
Around the beginning of the twentieth century, Georgian tea changed somewhat - it became clear how to improve its quality. The whole secret was in the number of tea buds. However, despite the fact that the secret of quality was revealed, raw materials produced in Georgia still could not compete with raw materials of Chinese origin.
On a note! Production volumes at that time were insignificant, the process itself developed extremely slowly and, accordingly, it did not pay for itself!
It was only during the Soviet era that tea production in Georgia began to gain momentum. Plantations expanded rapidly, several factories were built, and breeders actively developed new hybrids.
On a note! Soviet breeders were able to create a hybrid that tolerated fairly low temperatures and severe frosts - about -20°C!
The most extensive plantations were located on the Black Sea coast of Georgia. In such conditions, the tea bush actively developed, grew, and its leaves acquired special quality characteristics. Thus, the main goal was achieved - Georgian tea was exported and the whole world learned about it.
Main types of tea
Two types of tea are produced in Georgia: black and green.
Black
The origin of Georgian black tea is closely related to Chinese Kimyn. Its highest varieties contain a large number of tips - unopened buds, on which the quality of the drink depends.
Black Georgian tea does not give such an intense color to the infusion as raw materials from India or the island of Sri Lanka. For this reason, to obtain the required strength, add at least 1.5 tablespoons of tea leaves per cup. This drink has a very bright aroma and quite pleasant taste.
On a note! Georgian tea from Soviet times and the modern drink are somewhat different in quality. For example, if earlier a tea leaf had many different inclusions (dust, fragments of shoots, etc.), which became the reason for its notoriety, today the manufacturing technology has changed and does not allow the presence of such impurities!
Black Georgian tea did not have a variety of varieties - there were only five.
- Among the highest quality are “Extra” and “Bouquet”. They contained tips and tender apical leaves.
- The highest grade contained already cut leaf.
- The first grade was even lower in quality, since it consisted not only of broken leaves, but also of shoots.
- And the second grade had the lowest characteristics. It contained many foreign impurities, which spoiled its reputation.
However, despite this characteristic, it was a second-rate drink that won the love of Soviet citizens - it was “Tea No. 20”. And the secret of its popularity was that it contained about a fifth of the raw materials from India or Ceylon.
Green
Georgian green tea had a wider range of varieties - there were several dozen of them. And for convenience, its varieties were marked quite simply - with numbers. And the higher the number on the package, the higher the quality of the drink.
On a note! Georgian tea has numbers from 10 to 125. Accordingly, the number 10 indicates the lowest quality, and 125 the highest!
But at the same time there were varieties that were outside the number scale. These are “Bouquet of Georgia” and “Extra”. Others have the following nomenclature:
- premium - numbers 125 and 111;
- the first - from 85 to 110;
- the second - from 45 to 65;
- third - from 10 to 40.
Georgian teas, which were not included in this nomenclature and were of the highest quality, have won worldwide recognition. But at the same time, even representatives of the first, second and third grades were quite good. For example, in the countries of Central Asia, drink number 95 was especially popular. It had a beautiful, strong infusion and a characteristic tart taste.
Enjoy your tea!
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Tea No. 36 Georgian black long leaf - In the early years of Soviet power, there were apparently no problems with tea - tea (Indian) was bought in Torgsin and colonial goods stores. The tea was packaged in special tin boxes.
In the 20s of the twentieth century, a state program for the development of the tea business in Georgia was adopted. Breeding work was put on a scientific basis, for this purpose the Anaseul Research Institute of Tea, Tea Industry and Subtropical Crops was created.
Several dozen tea factories were built in different regions of Western Georgia. To replace manual tea picking, special tea harvesters have been developed. In 1986, the production of finished products reached 150 thousand tons, black and green tiles - 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 quality, modern tea is in no way inferior to the rarity produced in the twentieth century!!!
tart and sharp, but with a velvety unique taste, unlike others. During Soviet times, the country could be proud of tea grown in Georgia.
History of appearance
By the beginning of the 19th century, tea drinking had become a tradition in Russia, which led to the idea of tea production on the territory of the Russian Empire. Production attempts were made more than once, but established activities to create a tea drink were established only during the times of the USSR. After the Crimean War, the first tea plantations were taken over by an English officer living in Georgia.
Tea growing in Georgia began to develop significantly during Soviet times. In the 1920s, a project to develop the tea business began to operate. To implement it, tea factories were built and tea plantations began to be actively planted. In 1948, Ksenia Bakhtadze was the very first to select varieties - Gruzinsky No1 and Gruzinsky No2. Subsequently, several more high-quality varieties were bred and Ksenia was awarded the Stalin Prize. By the end of the 1970s, many varieties were exported and enjoyed enormous success. At that time, the production of black long leaf, green sheet, brick, and tiles had already been established. But the downside was that with production volumes, quality began to decline. Manual picking was replaced by mechanical picking, which led to a deterioration in quality. During mechanical assembly, not only the upper young leaves, but also the old coarse leaves began to be included in the composition. Harvesting in wet weather also affected the quality. The technology for drying the sheet has changed - the sheet is dried once, and not twice, as before. Due to this, taste and aroma were significantly lost. Over time, production decreased as there were many defects. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the production of Georgian tea ceased. Gradually, tea growing began to improve, but its former positions could not be returned.
Not a single variety of Georgian tea from the USSR era has survived to this day. During perestroika, the plantations were in a neglected state and died. Those varieties that are produced in modern times do not convey the taste of those grown at the beginning of production, but are much better than those produced in the last years of the Soviet Union.
Black tea
The origin of this drink is related to 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, the natural taste will be masked, since the taste of the latter is sharper. A positive factor of black Georgian tea is its ability to quickly extract.
The disadvantages are: shoots, dust, old leaves in the drink; violation of technology; application of reduced production technologies. It was these shortcomings that gave tea a bad reputation, which has survived to this day.
Types of tea
- Bouquet of Georgia;
- Extra;
- Top grade;
- First grade;
- Second grade.
The extras and bouquet of Georgia amazed with their amazing taste and highest quality. They were produced 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 produced using special machines and contained foreign inclusions.
Georgian tea 36 and Vigor were especially popular. The basis was Georgian tea material, but significantly mixed with Ceylon and Indian.
Green tea
All types of green leaf Georgian tea had numbers - from No10 to No125. Each number indicated quality, with No10 being the lowest quality and No125 being the highest grade. Georgian Bouquet and Extra teas were considered the best varieties at the world level. The first, second and third grades 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 style
The main feature of the Georgian method of brewing tea is that the kettle is heated 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 a kettle heated to the desired temperature and hot water is poured in a small stream. You need to wait three minutes and you can start drinking tea. The release of aroma occurs due to double heat treatment of the tea. This tea drink, prepared according to the correct recipe, has an exceptional and unique aroma.
Undoubtedly, at that time in Georgia and beyond, Bouquet and Extra tea were considered the most elite. Today, tea production in Georgia is developing poorly. The factory in Chakva produces brick green tea drink for the peoples of Central Asia.
The history of a large-scale tea project in brief. Popular brands of tea from Georgia. Reasons for a negative attitude towards the drink. How to please yourself by brewing Georgian tea.
Store shelves are filled with many varieties of tea. Among them, only one is almost always missing, remembered by many from Soviet times - Georgian tea. Maybe because it was remembered for its low quality. But there were reasons for this.
A little history
The point is not even that tea plantations in Georgia arose relatively recently - at the beginning of the twentieth century. Previously, attempts to grow it did not lead to noticeable results. But plant growers managed to adapt Chinese tea bushes (the kimun variety was used) to the conditions of the Georgian area and achieve good quality raw materials. Georgian teas have surpassed Chinese originals in some respects. The share of tips (unexpanded tea leaf buds) - the most valuable ingredients of the dry mixture - reached 5.5%. This is quite a high figure. At the Paris exhibition of 1899, Georgian tea called “Dyadyushkin’s Russian Tea” was awarded a gold medal. But production volumes were miniscule, and the product remained unknown to most buyers.
Long and fruitful work on a scientific basis to create new varieties of shrubs began in the 20s. A tea growing research institute was created to carry out breeding work. The area of tea plantations has expanded significantly (up to 60 thousand hectares), and dozens of tea factories have been built. High-quality plant varieties have been bred that can withstand low temperatures. Various brands of the product went on sale, the most famous of them being “Bouquet of Georgia”, Georgian Tea 36, Tea 20. At the end of the 70s, Georgian tea was imported by dozens of countries in Europe and Asia. And in the Soviet Union it became the most accessible and widespread drink.
How tea got its bad reputation
But no one would dare call him a favorite. The increase in production and the technological innovations introduced for this purpose turned into a real disaster, a sharp degradation of quality. The era of hand picking tea leaves is over. Tea harvesting machines, when the decisive question was not quality, but speed, worked roughly. The rejection of some technological links and simplification of the fermentation process of tea leaves also played a role. As a result, cuttings of shoots, coarse lower leaves and even dust were infused into a cup of tea. There was no need to talk about the taste and aroma of such a drink.
The situation was saved by tea compositions made from various raw materials. Georgian Tea 36 was popular and is still produced today. It is a blend of Georgian and Indian teas, therefore it has a more tart taste compared to Georgian. Indian must make up at least 36% of the volume of the mixture.
Today is the day of a drink from Georgia
In recent years, the Georgian product has occupied a small segment of the tea market, which is defined as 3.5%, due to a long-standing prejudice against this product. Despite the fact that the quality of tea has changed for the better. Along with the old, well-known brands (Georgian Tea 36), new ones have appeared - “Gurieli”, “Tkibuli”. These varieties are exported to Poland, Germany, the USA and Central Asian countries.
To enjoy the drink Georgian tea, you need to learn how to brew it correctly. For one cup of strong drink you need one and a half to two teaspoons of tea leaves. In this case, we will get high-quality, light-colored tea with a mild taste and original aroma. Remember that Georgian tea infuses quickly.
Original brewing method
Tea connoisseurs offer this difficult method: the teapot must be heated to 100% temperature, while remaining dry. This can be done on the fire of a gas burner, taking precautions, or in a pan of boiling water. Dry tea leaves are first sifted through a sieve to remove debris, and 1.5 teaspoons per glass and another 2 per teapot are poured into a container. In a hot kettle, dry heating of the tea leaves will occur and, as a result, the flavor and aroma will be released. Pour boiling water over it and let it brew for three and a half minutes, sometimes two is enough. And you can enjoy Georgian tea.
I am not a very fastidious person in everyday life. Despite the fact that I now earn quite good money, I buy food at Pyaterochka or Avoska and am hardly able to distinguish high-quality raw smoked sausage from the cheapest counterfeit. In general, I'm not a foodie. Not a gourmet at all. Therefore, I usually do not support discussions about “one hundred varieties of sausage” and their quality now and under the SSR. In a culinary sense, I gained practically nothing from the death of the USSR and the advent of a market economy. Almost...
But there is one exception - I really love TEA. I drink between five and fifteen glasses of tea every day. And I’m glad that in post-Soviet Russia I can really drink tea, and not the mud that was called tea in the USSR. Why burdu - because no way, no “tea ceremonies” can make good tea from bad brewing. And the quality of the tea leaves sold in Soviet stores was, as they said then, below any criticism. The following types of tea could be purchased relatively freely in Soviet stores:
- Tea N 36 (Georgian and 36% Indian) (green packaging)
- Tea N 20 (Georgian and 20% Indian) (green packaging)
- Krasnodar premium tea
- Georgian tea of the highest quality
- Georgian tea first grade
- Georgian tea second grade
- Krasnodar tea of the first, second and even THIRD grade
More or less normal tea that could be drunk normally was considered “Tea N 36” or as it was usually called “thirty-sixth”. When they “threw it out” onto the shelves, a queue immediately formed for an hour and a half. And they gave it strictly “two packs per hand.” This usually happened at the end of the month. when the store urgently needed to “get a plan.” The pack was a hundred grams, one pack was enough for a maximum of a week. And then with very economical spending. 
Sometimes a miracle happened. Some food package for the holiday included INDIAN tea. Why is it in the set - because it was NEVER in stores (in regular stores in my native Krasnoyarsk).
Indian tea sold in the USSR was imported in bulk and packaged at tea packaging factories in standard packaging - a cardboard box “with an elephant” of 50 and 100 grams (for premium tea). For first grade Indian tea, green and red packaging was used. Not always tea sold as Indian actually was such. Thus, in the 1980s, a mixture was sold as “first-grade Indian tea”, which included: 55% Georgian, 25% Madagascar, 15% Indian and 5% Ceylon tea. 
Indian tea was a real SHORTAGE. They speculated on it, they gave it to friends, they paid for small services, it was... it was... it was - TEA. People were invited to visit it - come, I got some INDIAN TEA. In general, Indian tea was an EVENT. It seemed to me then that it was impossible to imagine better tea than Indian “with an elephant.” No, of course there were legends about a certain tea called “Bouquet of Georgia”, but I have never seen it, I don’t even know what its packaging looked like. Or maybe he wasn't there...
There was also tea served in canteens and on long-distance trains. It cost three kopecks, but it was better not to drink it. especially in canteens. It was done like this: an old tea leaves that had already been brewed several times were taken, baking soda was added to it, and the whole thing was boiled for about fifteen to twenty minutes. If the color was not dark enough, burnt sugar was added. Naturally, no claims to quality were accepted - “if you don’t like it, don’t drink it.” I usually didn’t drink, I took compote or jelly instead of tea.
But now you can go to any cheap cafe and you will be offered a choice of 3-5 types of tea. Or go to the same “Avoska” and there choose a drink to your taste from the available 10-15 varieties. Or, as I periodically do, go to a special tea store and rummage around for half an hour, choosing from the one and a half hundred options placed on the shelves. Isn't this happiness?
So I didn’t trade the Soviet Union for a hundred varieties of sausage, I traded it for one and a half hundred varieties of tea. And I don't regret it...
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