Georgia's domestic tea industry is experiencing a modern revival after collapsing alongside the Soviet Union.
Growers are now targeting the international luxury market, shifting focus toward high quality rather than the massive volumes of the Soviet era.
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According to The Guardian, Georgia's humid Black Sea climate and freezing Caucasus winters create ideal conditions for growing sweet, pest-resistant, and organic tea leaves.
Importers across Europe and the United States are increasingly sourcing these premium leaves for high-end establishments.
"These plants are obviously very happy where they are because it just tastes incredible," said Ana Dane of New York-based In Pursuit of Tea, supplier to Michelin three-star restaurant Eleven Madison Park.
"They were just exquisitely-produced teas," she said, describing her first taste from Renegade Tea Estate in Georgia's Imereti region.
From Empire to Abandonment
Georgian tea cultivation dates back to the early 1800s when a local prince planted the first bushes near Ozurgeti.
The Russian Empire and later the USSR developed the Guria region, making Georgia the fifth-largest tea producer globally by the 1980s.
"All big empires, they really want to have their own tea," said Lika Megreladze, whose mother worked at the Institute of Tea and Subtropical Cultures in the 1970s.
"The Russian Empire really wanted to have their own tea."
After the Soviet Union dissolved, the massive collective farms were completely abandoned.
The modern revival began in 2006 when Shota Bitadze and 16 families formed the Georgian Organic Tea Producers Association to teach local hand-processing of premium leaves.
