Georgian brick tea, production and impressions. Georgian tea: history, varieties and methods of brewing Tea plantations in Georgia

In 1854, during the Crimean War, a British warship was wrecked near the city of Poti. The crew was taken prisoner, but according to the noble customs of those times, the officers were placed in the houses of the local nobility - more like guests than as prisoners.

One of them, the Scotsman Jacob McNamarra, fell in love with the daughter of Prince Eristavi, who showed him hospitality: the fifteen-year-old Princess Sofiko. The girl answered him in kind. Their love was so strong that Prince Eristavi could not refuse a foreigner who asked for the hand of his daughter. Only he set a condition: Sofiko would not go anywhere. If a Scot wants to be with her, let him give up his homeland… Jacob McNamarra stayed in Georgia.

But he could not live without tea, and therefore had to spend a fortune on the delivery of this precious drink. It was then that he decided to try to plant his own tea plantation. Prince Eristavi supported his son-in-law.

Jacob ordered tea seeds not from dealers, but from his old friends in the British Navy. I had to wait a long time, but in the end, the living seeds, not spoiled by the greedy Chinese, ended up in his hands, were planted in the fertile Georgian land in the Ozurgeti region, and sprouted.

Already in 1864, at an industrial exhibition in St. Petersburg, the first samples of "Caucasian tea" were demonstrated.

From the book of Mikhail Davitashvili "Our Georgian Tea" ...

“In the estate of the Georgian prince Mikh Eristavi in ​​the village of Gora-Berejouli, a commotion reigned in the morning: the owner was leaving on a long journey, to St. Petersburg. As soon as dawn broke, a carriage harnessed by a train was brought to the house. The servants began to carry and tie up the chests.

In the sixties of the last century, the trip of a Transcaucasian resident to Russia was a great event for him and his whole family. But it had a very special meaning for the prince himself. He had to pass a serious test. He brought to the capital the fruits of his many years of work - the first samples of Georgian tea.

The whole family put a lot of effort into making this tea. From the time when Mikha Eristavi founded the first tea plantation in Georgia, he made all the household members ardent adherents of tea growing. When the peasant girls began to collect shoots from the bushes, the princely house turned into a tea factory ...

Eristavi had instructions translated into Georgian on how to process tea leaves. Trying not to deviate from the precious document in any way, the wife, sons and daughters of the prince, led by him, carried out mysterious manipulations, withering, twisting and drying the tea leaves. Tea, according to the household, turned out to be excellent ... Everyone rejoiced.

Eristavi intended to create a large subtropical farm, but his own funds were not enough for this. In 1860, he asked the tsarist government for a loan of 20,000 rubles. The answer was given four years later, when his plantation had already brought a harvest and samples of dry tea had been made, and read: "Refuse." The civil governor of Kutaisi, in a report on this matter, thoughtfully stated that "the development of tea trees" in Georgia is "an impossible task"; that, perhaps, only in greenhouses, "under artificial conditions" ... etc.

And here is Eristavi in ​​St. Petersburg. In his hands is material evidence that it is possible to produce tea in Georgia. In 1864, thanks to the efforts of an enthusiast, the first domestic tea appeared at the All-Russian Agricultural Exhibition in St. Petersburg. But praise is praise, but help ... Mikha Eristavi returned to his estate empty-handed. In the same year, he made another attempt to bring his work to the attention of the government. At the end of the year, he presented samples of tea from the harvests of 1862, 1863 and 1864 to the Caucasian Society of Agriculture. The examination approved the tea of ​​1863. But the Caucasian society did not live up to Eristavi's hopes either. As Georgy Tsereteli noted in those years, it "was cut off from the life of the country, the members of the society were engaged not in serving the common interests, but in personal affairs."

In fairness, it must be added that these first samples of Georgian tea were imperfect; but the essence of the matter is that neither our first tea grower, nor the Caucasian society itself received any support from the tsarist government. In 1870, Eristavi died, and for fifteen years, experiments in the production of tea actually stopped. They were renewed in 1885 by the great Russian chemist A. M. Butlerov. From the leaves of tea bushes of the Sukhum Botanical Garden, he made quite good tea. He also had his own plot of tea between Sukhumi and New Athos. But Butlerov also died before he could complete these experiments.

However, the idea of ​​domestic tea growing did not die out, it was promoted at different times by Russian scientists: Dokuchaev, Voeikov, Krasnov, Williams, it was picked up by the Georgian public. Prominent public figure Niko Nikoladze, writer and publicist Georgy Tsereteli, and many others ardently supported the development of tea culture. Nikoladze planted tea seedlings in the Poti garden and in his native village of Didi-Jikhaishi. The prominent writer and public figure Ilya Chavchavadze wrote in the Iveria newspaper in 1887: “The Transcaucasus, thanks to its rich climate and soil, can produce almost everything that grows on the earth and provides benefits. Our region has grown so successfully even the cinchona tree and the tea bush that now the government itself is trying to prosper and spread both one and the other culture.

Tea plantations are located near Chakvi, Ozurgetti, Cabuletti

The tsarist government "tried about the prosperity and distribution" of tea more than moderately. More than once, high authorities in the rank of minister or governor refused to allocate land for tea plantations to individuals and communities, and the work that had been started collapsed, the initiative died out. When the Caucasian Society of Agriculture asked for permission to send their trainee with an expedition to the tea countries, an official from the Ministry of State Property refused, presenting a “full-fledged” reason: “the trainee may die there ...” The tea merchants, who raked in huge profits, also acted as enemies of domestic tea. There were cases when, on the initiative of Russian scientists, tea seeds and seedlings were purchased in China, Japan and India, delivered to Georgia, planted in the ground, but did not give good shoots, normal bushes; checks revealed that they had been deliberately tampered with. Most often, the seeds lost their germination in a long journey, sometimes they were sown in unsuitable soils; young bushes died from frost or inept care.

And yet time took its toll. Tea, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, some landowners, wealthy people, sometimes peasants (rarely local residents, more often immigrants) began to breed tea.

It took many years and efforts of many people for a highly organized tea industry to be created in Georgia in the first half of the 20th century, and tea to receive the deserved right of industrial culture, i.e. tea growing has become the pride of the country's agriculture. Through the efforts of many enthusiasts, work on the selection, cultivation and processing of tea continued, and by the beginning of the 20th century, tea was already being harvested in Georgia with might and main, and several tea factories were operating. The varieties “Bogatyr”, “Kara-Dere”, “Zedoban”, “Ozurgeti” produced before the revolution were of very high quality. One of the best was Dyadyushkin's Russian Tea - black tea with tips (tea buds) up to 5.5%. This variety won a gold medal at the 1900 Paris Exposition.

1917 ... The young Soviet republic, having lost ties with many traditional tea exporters, and faced with the threat of being left without a product of prime necessity, urgently took steps to develop tea growing in Georgia, and then in Azerbaijan and in the Krasnodar Territory.

The success in growing tea in the GSSR was impressive. State policy and support for state farms allowed the Soviet Union, already during the first five-year plans, to abandon the import of tea seeds and significantly reduce the import of tea from abroad. Tea growing has become the pride of Georgia's socialist agriculture, its leading industry. The All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Tea and Subtropical Crops and the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of the Tea Industry worked in Georgia. The Georgian Agricultural Institute and a number of other scientific institutions also dealt with "tea issues".

In 1948, Ksenia Bakhtadze bred artificial tea hybrids for the first time in the world: varieties Georgian No. 1 and Georgian No. 2. Subsequently, selection work continued, high-quality varieties of tea were bred, while having a unique viability. So, for example, the hybrid "Georgian Selection No. 8" withstood winter temperatures down to -25 ° C.

Tea-packing factory on a tea plantation near Batumi, ca. 1909-1915

However, manual collection of varietal tea leaf- very hard work. The picker, in order to collect the daily norm (15 kg of a leaf), had to make about 36 thousand tear-offs of suitable flushes with her fingers (usually three leaves with buds or 4-5 leaves).

Therefore, there was an urgent need to create and introduce complex mechanization into tea growing as soon as possible. Therefore, there was an urgent need to create and introduce complex mechanization into tea growing as soon as possible.

But only after the end of the Second World War in Georgia, the first comb-pneumatic tea-picking machine for the selective collection of high-quality tea leaves "Sakartvelo" was created in Georgia, which was put into production in 1962. The achievements of the tea industry convincingly prove that in the last century tea has become an integral part of the Georgian economy. Moreover, by the end of the 70s, Georgia in the production of black long leaf and slab tea was listed in one of the first places among the main producers (naturally, after India, China and Sri Lanka).

Tea-picking machines "Sakartvelo" on the plantation of the Ingir State Farm.

By the end of the 1970s, Georgia was producing 95,000 tons of ready-made tea per year. Georgian tea was exported to Poland, East Germany, Hungary, Romania, Finland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, South Yemen, and Mongolia. Black was produced in Georgia long leaf tea, green sheet, tiled, brick. Black tea was consumed by the European republics of the USSR and European countries, green tea - by Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and the countries of Central Asia.

Set "Soviet Assorted Tea" 1939.

"Amateur with a flower." Top grade. NARKOMPISCHEPROM.
First grade. Tea-packing factory them. Lenin. MOSSORSOVNARKHOZ.
First grade. Tea-packing factory them. Mikoyan, Odessa. MPPT USSR. GOST 1938-46

Recession. In the 1970s, along with the growth in the production of Georgian tea, a progressive decline in its quality was noted. The transition from manual collection of tea leaves to mechanical led to a sharp deterioration in the quality of raw materials. The race for performance has led to widespread disruption of technology, from allowing tea to be harvested in wet weather, to speeding up the processing of tea leaves by eliminating the mandatory drying step. After the collapse of the USSR, Russia, due to the low quality of Georgian tea, refocused on the supply of imported varieties. Georgian tea production was practically abandoned and, despite the emergence of firms producing competitive products, has not yet regained its former positions.

After the collapse of the USSR, the leadership of independent Georgia took a course to curtail tea production and destroy plantations under the pretext that tea is a product alien to Georgia. International statistics noted that in 1993 production practically stopped altogether. The war, especially in Abkhazia, severed economic ties and created chaos in production.
Today, Georgian tea production is in deep decline. The total area of ​​tea plantations is 50 thousand hectares.
Hundreds of thousands of specialists in tea farms and factories, machine operators, tea pickers were left without work. Many women were forced to look for work on the tea plantations in Turkey. And the tea plantations of Georgia... the tea bush in free development develops into a tea tree and loses its main purpose - to produce an industrial tea leaf. Moreover, the restoration of a heavily neglected plantation is expensive manual labor. Therefore, the irretrievable loss of tea plantations and, accordingly, Georgian tea cannot be allowed. After all, this is the property of the country, accumulated at the cost of the labor of hundreds of thousands of people.

By the way, it is interesting that the son of Jacob and Sofiko, Nikolai Yakovlevich Marra (“Jacob” in Russian is translated as “Yakov”, and the surname was shortened and simplified) became an outstanding linguist, collector of Caucasian folklore, academician and vice president of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Soon Georgian tea will be 160 years old. I would like to wish him the restoration of his former glory!

Georgia is known for its beautiful landscapes, delicious food, fresh fruit and mineral waters However, today few people remember the production of Georgian tea during the Soviet era. In this article, we will talk about the heyday and decline of Georgian tea growing, the pros and cons of tea from a sunny country, the methods of its brewing and the best varieties.

Story

The first tea bushes were planted at the end of the nineteenth century under the leadership of K.S. Popov. His varieties received a gold award and first place at the Paris Exhibition in 1939. Popov's teas were considered the best in the Caucasus. However, during the First World War, the development of tea growing in the country was stopped. The farms were abandoned and destroyed, in 1921 the companies were nationalized, the state itself took up the production of sheets that were assembled by hand. During this period, the active development of tea growing began.

By the middle of the twentieth century, there were already 65 factories in the entire Caucasus, eight of which produced only green tea. Tons of tile tea leaves were sent to all corners of the USSR, they were packed in foil paper, cardboard and metal boxes. In the 60s, the heyday of Georgian tea science began, which lasted about twenty years. Unfortunately, the quality of the industry has been affected by the shift to mechanical sheet picking and the disruption of processing to speed up the process. During this period, the production of tea leaves decreased by almost one and a half times, and after the collapse of the USSR, it was completely stopped.

Of the 65 factories, only three remained, the rest were either abandoned or converted into more modern trends. Even in its own market, the share of native tea is only eight percent.

Tea production today

In the early 2000s, Georgian tea growing practically stood still. One of the remaining factories produced only green tea for the Central Asian countries. Not a single elite variety from those previously produced has been preserved. Toward the end of the first decade, the process began to gradually move for the better, teas began to be produced in an artisanal way, but only people who love their job were doing this.

Nowadays, the Georgian tea culture has begun to develop gradually, which cannot but rejoice. After all, properly grown and harvested Georgian tea with competent processing in taste and aroma is by no means inferior to Chinese and Indian varieties. At the moment, this organic drink is very popular in the country.

Varieties

For a long period, several varieties of tea were produced in the Caucasus: both black and green. All of them were in demand throughout the entire Soviet Union. Black long leaf species called "Bouquet" and "Extra" consisted of thyrses and top sheets. The leaf type of black tea of ​​the first collection was considered the highest grade, and in the second it was enough a large number of additional ingredients to increase the volume and weight of the tiles. As a rule, it was made from branches collected by machinery. The tea drinks "Bodrost" and "Tea 36" were combined types, since, in addition to Georgian, they also contained Indian and Ceylon varieties.

Green tea had a fairly wide assortment and was produced under numbers from 10 to 125. Above number 125 there were already products of the highest quality, these included "Green Extra" and "Georgian Bouquet".

Today, the best brands that have proven themselves not only in the Georgian, but also in the European market are Samaia and Gurieli. They not only became widespread, but also received the title of goods of medium quality or first grade. Gurieli and Samaia have one more weighty argument for buying: in addition to the amazing taste and aroma, which are not worse than Indian or Chinese look, they have a very affordable price, which will please most connoisseurs of this drink.

The range is gradually expanding, new varieties appear. In addition to black and green tea, white types are also in demand, as well as drinks with additional components in the form of a variety of berries, fruits and Caucasian herbs. One of the producers who released a new variety called "Georgian Tea 1847" was presented at one of the international exhibitions just a couple of years ago and took part in the annual championship. In addition to high marks, prizes and first places, the variety received great approval and aroused considerable public interest.

At another festival held in 2017, tea drinks from Georgia also received prizes and the sympathy of visitors.

brick tea

Georgian slab tea is especially popular, which is convenient not only for its small size and ease of transportation, but also in a simple way use. This species is a homogeneous mass with solid and flat surface. It doesn't break or crumble. Since the pressing process takes place through high pressure, most of the resinous substances are eliminated, which is good for health.

Georgian brick tea is very strong, rich and has a velvety aroma that will not leave anyone indifferent.

Pros and cons

Among the advantages of the drink from Georgia, it should be noted the high content of tips and the presence of a small amount of tannins. Thanks to this, the tea comes out quite saturated and retains all the necessary useful material. The pleasant aroma of tea will awaken the desire to drink it even among those who do not like this drink.

Among the disadvantages of Georgian tea, one can single out the presence of small crumbs, which, like dust, sometimes remain at the bottom of the box. A similar phenomenon is caused by a slight mechanical damage to the sheets during manufacture.

Cooking method

There are two ways to brew this tea. The first, classical is known to all. A small amount of the mixture is placed in a cup and poured with boiling water, after which you need to wait about seven minutes for the drink to brew well and you can start to enjoy drinking.

The second method is known only in narrow circles. Its main condition is a 100% hot kettle. When it is very hot, tea leaves are placed inside and boiled water is poured. In this case, three minutes is enough for a complete infusion.

Another nice plus this method is a stunning fragrance that will quickly spread throughout the room.

Unfortunately, now the Georgian drink is not very popular on Russian market. Indian, Chinese and English counterparts are quite firmly holding on to leading positions in this niche. However, given the gradual development of tea growing in Georgia and the love of our compatriots for this country, it is quite possible that in a couple of years we will be able to meet an assortment of Georgian tea on the shelves of our stores.

You will learn more about the collection and preparation of Georgian tea from the following video.

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 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 the well-established activity for the creation of a tea drink was established only in the days of the USSR. 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 for the development of 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 to select varieties - Georgian No1 and Georgian No2. In the future, 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 huge success. At that time, the production of black long leaf, green sheet, brick, and tile was already established. But the downside was that with the volume of production, the quality began to decline. Manual collection was replaced by mechanical, 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 affected by the collection in wet weather. The technology of drying the sheet has changed - the sheet began to dry once, and not twice, as it was before. Due to this, the taste and aroma were significantly lost. Over time, production declined, as there was a lot of marriage. 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.

Not a single variety of Georgian tea from the era of the USSR has survived to this day. In perestroika, the plantations were in a state of 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 are much better than those produced in last years Soviet Union.

Black tea

The origin of this drink is associated with Chinese tea keemun. 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 masked, as the taste of the latter is sharper. The positive factor of black Georgian tea is its ability to be quickly extracted.

Cons are: shoots, dust, old leaves in the drink; technology violation; the use of reduced production technologies. It was these shortcomings that gave tea a bad reputation that has survived to this day.

Types of tea

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

Extra and bouquet of Georgia impressed with their amazing taste and the 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 clean and included shoots. The second grade was carried out with the help of 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 Georgian green leaf tea had numbers - from No10 to No125. Each number indicated a quality, meaning #10 was the lowest quality and #125 was the highest grade. Tea Georgian bouquet and Extra 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

The main feature of the Georgian way of brewing tea is that the teapot is heated to a temperature of 100 C, but it must be dry inside. Rinsing the kettle with hot water is unacceptable. Then in a teapot heated to desired temperature dry tea leaves are poured (1.5 teaspoons per glass) and poured in a small stream hot water. It is necessary to withstand three minutes and you can start drinking tea. The release of aroma is due to the double heat treatment of 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 underdeveloped. The factory in Chakva produces a brick green tea drink for the peoples of Central Asia.

The history of the large-scale tea project in brief. Popular brands of tea from Georgia. Reasons for the negative attitude to the drink. How to give yourself pleasure by brewing Georgian tea.

Store shelves are filled with many varieties of tea. Among them, almost always, only one is missing, which many people remember from Soviet times - Georgian tea. Maybe because he was remembered just for low quality. But there were reasons for this.

A bit of history

It's not even that tea plantations in Georgia arose relatively recently - at the beginning of the 20th century. Prior to this, attempts to grow it did not lead to noticeable results. But the growers managed to adapt the Chinese tea bushes (the keemun variety was used) to the conditions of the Georgian area and achieve a good quality of raw materials. Georgian teas surpassed Chinese originals in some respects. The share of tips (unopened tea leaf buds) - the most valuable ingredients of the dry mix - reached 5.5%. This is a pretty high figure. At the Paris exhibition in 1899, Georgian tea called Dyadyushkin's Russian Tea was awarded a gold medal. But production volumes were meager, and the product remained unknown to most buyers.

A long and fruitful work on a scientific basis to create new varieties of shrubs began in the 20s. To carry out breeding work, a research institute for tea growing was created. The areas of tea plantations expanded significantly (up to 60,000 hectares), and dozens of tea factories were built. High-quality plant varieties have been bred that can withstand low temperature regime. Various brands of the product went on sale, the most famous of them can be called “Georgian Bouquet”, Georgian Tea 36, ​​Tea 20. In the late 70s, dozens of countries in Europe and Asia imported Georgian tea. And in the Soviet Union, it became the most accessible and widespread drink.

How Tea's Bad Reputation Began

But no one would dare to call him a favorite. The increase in production and the technological innovations introduced for this purpose turned into a real disaster, a sharp degradation in quality. The era of hand picking tea leaves is over. The tea-pickers, when the issue was not quality, but speed, worked rudely. The rejection of some technological links, the simplification of the process of tea leaf fermentation, also played a role. As a result, cuttings of shoots, coarsened lower foliage and even dust were infused in 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, ​​which is still produced today, was popular. It is a blend of Georgian and Indian teas, therefore it has a more tart taste compared to Georgian. Indian must be at least 36% of the volume of the mixture.

Today's drink day from Georgia

In recent years, the Georgian product occupies a small segment tea market, which is defined as 3.5%, affects 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 appeared - Gurieli, Tkibuli. These varieties are exported to Poland, Germany, the USA and the countries of Central Asia.

To enjoy the Georgian tea drink, you need to learn how to brew it correctly. For one cup of strong drink, you need one and a half - two teaspoons of tea leaves. In this case, we get high-quality, light-colored tea with a mild taste and original aroma. Remember that Georgian tea is quickly infused.

The original way of brewing

Tea connoisseurs offer such a difficult method: the teapot must be heated to a temperature of 100%, while remaining dry. This can be done on the fire of a gas burner, being careful, or in a pot of boiling water. Dry tea leaves are preliminarily sieved through a sieve to remove debris, and poured into a container 1.5 teaspoons per glass and 2 more per teapot. In a heated kettle, dry heating of the tea leaves will occur and, as a result, the release of taste and aroma. Pour boiling water and let it brew for three and a half minutes, sometimes two is enough. And you can enjoy Georgian tea.

The first tea plantations in Georgia appeared in the regions of Ozurgeti and Chakvi after the Crimean War. Jacob McNamara, having married a Georgian woman, stayed in the country and began to create small plantations.

By the beginning of the 20th century, Georgian tea could easily compete with Chinese tea, but due to the slow and insufficiently large volume of production, imported varieties forced it out of the market.

Only in the 1920s a program for the development of tea business appeared in the country. A special research institute was created, the purpose of which was to create new varieties of tea. For the same purpose, the construction of factories and regular planting of plantations began.

Georgian tea was distinguished by a rather tart taste and quick brewing, and in terms of the quality of the valuable nutrients contained in it, it was in no way inferior to the best foreign samples.

Varieties of Georgian tea

Among the variety of varieties, the leading place was occupied by the Georgian “Bouquet of Georgia” and “Russian Uncle” tea, which received a gold medal at the famous Paris exhibition. Its quality was of the highest level. The composition included young leaves from the very tops of tea bushes and a large number of buds or, as they are also called, tips. Next came the varieties "Kara-Dere", "Ozurgeti", "Zedoban" and "Extra".

Varieties of green tea were marked with special numbers from 10 to 125 and were divided into the first, second and third grades. The numbers indicated the quality of a particular species. The best and, accordingly, the highest variety was considered to be number 125.

Teas numbered 85, 95, 100 and 110 belonged to the first grade. Teas numbered 10, 15, 20, 25, 35, 40 belonged to the second and lowest grade.

Popularity

Georgian green tea gained its popularity due to its good cleansing properties. And when interacting with the cat's eye, he raised immunity.

To date, the range of tea varieties is increasing every year, which allows you to choose the drink you like the most. Not only black, but also white, green varieties, as well as unique teas with the addition of blueberries, raspberries, quince leaves and a wide variety of Caucasian herbs and berries are very popular.

So, for example, "Georgian Tea 1847" from a major manufacturer in 2016 performed at the international championship in Seoul. Despite the fact that the variety was produced relatively recently, it won prizes at the competition in the “Tea making” category. This type of tea became the winner in four nominations: “ Best result 2016”, “Aftertaste”, “Unsurpassed Aroma” and “Excellent Taste”. Georgian tea at the championship aroused great interest and received the highest marks. At the festival in Prague, the Georgian drink, where all the variety of varieties was presented, also won prizes and received significant recognition.

Georgian tea, produced and grown correctly, is not inferior even to the best varieties Chinese. And as the popularity of natural products, then a real Georgian drink, produced only organically, is in great demand today.

And all why? Tea bushes are relatively less susceptible to diseases caused by various pests, so chemical preparations are never used for cultivation. Thanks to this important factor, the organic product is rapidly gaining popularity.

Georgian brick tea

Georgian pressed tea is especially popular among tourists, military and hunters. This type has no equal, due to its compactness and convenience not only in transportation, but also in use.

Tiled tea consists of homogeneous mass, has a hard and smooth surface, which also adds some popularity to it. The tiles are quite durable, do not crumble and do not break in the hands. Pressing takes place under high pressure, due to which the main part of the resinous substances is squeezed out of the crumb. It is distinguished by its special strength and rich velvety aroma.

Advantages

The undeniable advantages of Georgian tea include the presence of a large number of tips in its composition, due to which the tea is maximally saturated with all the necessary nutrients.

Flaws

During the production of tea, some mechanical spoilage occurs, in which a large amount of small crumbs resembling dust appears. Before brewing, tea must be sieved to make the taste more saturated and the tea transparent. It is the presence of this factor that affects a slight decrease in the demand for tea among buyers.

Cooking method

The main feature of brewing this type of tea is a very hot teapot. Only after the container is almost hot, tea leaves are poured into it and poured with boiling water. With this method, two or three minutes are enough for the tea to brew and a rich aroma appears, after which you can already start the meal.

Another brewing option is the combination of green tea and milk, which turns the drink into a magical elixir.

It is believed that if you regularly drink green tea with milk, then the perception of stress decreases, the work of blood vessels improves, brain activity is stimulated, and the aging process slows down and digestion improves. The caffeine contained in the green leaf relieves fatigue and has a beneficial effect on the metabolism in the body. Fluorine strengthens teeth, and vitamins in the brewed drink promote the breakdown of subcutaneous fat.

Tea is an excellent natural drink.