Imereti Georgia Organic

I will admit a small bias with this one. I am not supposed to have favourites, but Georgia is one of my favourite tea regions in the world. I came to Georgian tea late, only while I was training as a Tea Sommelier, and it captured me from the very first cup; there is a flavour here I have not found anywhere else.

Part of the joy is the surprise of it. The leaves are large, dark and twisted, the sort that look as though they ought to brew into something big and brisk. And then you taste it, and it is the opposite: remarkably smooth and mellow, velvety in the mouth, with a natural sweetness and a lovely hint of chocolate. One customer, a lifelong teabag drinker until she found me, described it as being as smooth as a breakfast blend but with a rounder mouthfeel, which I think is exactly right.

Georgia has grown tea in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains, in the west of the country, since 1890. It was once the main supplier to the whole of the Soviet Union, but after independence the industry all but collapsed. Happily for the rest of us, it is being quietly revived: in the Imereti region, small cooperatives have formed a Tea Farmers' Association and, since 2016, have been reclaiming and restoring the old wild tea plants. This is organic, loose-leaf tea from that revival. Production is still small, and you rarely see Georgian tea on a shelf, which is a large part of why I treasure it; it is a genuine hidden gem.

It is a proper black tea, so there is caffeine in it, and I would drink this one without milk, to let all that smooth sweetness and chocolate come through. The big leaves take their time to open up, so give them a good four to five minutes.

Brew at 100°C for 4 to 5 minutes.

Ingredients || Organic Black Tea 

Warning, packed in an environment that contains nuts

Caffeine || Yes

Tasting Notes || Surprisingly smooth and mellow, with natural sweetness and a hint of chocolate

Brewing Notes || 1 teaspoon per cup, 100ºC, brew for 4 minutes.