Black Tea from Georgia

[teashionista]

Where is Russia do your parents live? Nearly any kind of tea is availabele in every major city in Russia now. Take a look at "teatips" site - I am sure, they can find a store not far from them

Julis, my father lives in Ulyanovsk. And yes, while there are plenty of stores (and kiosks at the market) that sell tea, good quality tea is increasingly hard to find. I spent a month in Russia last summer, and had a hard time finiding good tea to bring back with me--I was in Moscow, Kazan, and Ulyanovsk (all with population over 1mil). In fact, the only Darjeeling I was able to locate is Ahmad (a major brand), and that was way overpriced I am still the main supplier of Chinese and Japanese greens for my family--there just isn't a great selection, and what's available is not of very good quality...

[teashionista]

While looking in google images, I found this neat samovar: http://karisimby.wordpress.com/2009/04/ ... r-concept/, but I couldn't find one that looks like my grandma's.

That's a very cool looking samovar! I love the handle and the spout--very futuristic!

I'll try to talk my father into finding me a traditional samovar, but it might be quite a hassle to transport it to the US

[sneakers]

Although we in the West might associate coffee traditions with the Middle East, tea is a popular drink. I've had Persian Tea at a Persian Food restaurant and seen it in a Middle East grocery. One thing I learned recently as a Middle Eastern tradition is the use of sugar. A cube or lump of sugar is placed on the tongue, and tea is sipped while keeping the sugar on the tongue. So the tea passes through the sweetness of the sugar sip by sip until the lump is gone. I thought that was interesting although I don't use sugar myself.

What does Persian tea taste like, compared it to a teas we know? I'm ready to explore new teas all the time, and we have many Middle Eastern groceries here.

My grandmother from Kiev, Russia, did that with a lump of sugar, but she took a bite, not the whole lump. She drank her tea out of a glass, an old tradition, but I don't know how she didn't burn her fingers. I sometimes drink mine from a clear glass mug to watch the color, but I never take sugar.

[spot52]

Steinbeck and Capa enjoyed some tea in Georgia. Steinbeck wrote about it in a fun piece of work called, A Russian Journal. Don't get me wrong, it is not a tea book...but they do visit a plantation.

[yee]

When I was growing up in Russia, teas from Georgia (a former republic), albeit abundant, weren't held in high regard They cost 2-3 times less than mid-range Assams (and 5-6 times less than Darjeelings), and my tea-obsessed parents never bought them.

But now I'm curious Please share your reviews if/when you buy them!

http://teatips.ru/threads.php

Here you can find a lot of information.

[yee]

CCC'MON! I KNEW THAT YOU ARE ALL RUSSIANS HERE

[kigawa]

When I was growing up in Russia, teas from Georgia (a former republic), albeit abundant, weren't held in high regard They cost 2-3 times less than mid-range Assams (and 5-6 times less than Darjeelings), and my tea-obsessed parents never bought them.

But now I'm curious Please share your reviews if/when you buy them!

http://teatips.ru/threads.php

Here you can find a lot of information.

What about the tea form Azerbaijan? It was considered even worse than Georgean tea. Azerbaijani teas would be even more obscure in the West than the Georgian ones. So, here is another research project for someone.

[jamie-laws]

Greatest benefit of green tea consumption is improved endurance capacity. The energy provided for the enhanced endurance is again from the increase in fat oxidation.

[Chip]

... not sure what this has to do with the topic that has been dormant for over a year.

[TwoPynts]

... not sure what this has to do with the topic that has been dormant for over a year.

Seems like some sort of spam, but to what purpose

[rabbit]

Georgia... great place!

[Chip]

... not sure what this has to do with the topic that has been dormant for over a year.

Seems like some sort of spam, but to what purpose

... spam w/o a purpose ...

Anyway, yes, it smells like spam, looks like spam, tastes like spam, yet they forgot to actually spam.

[Chip]

I used to get loose tea from a place in Vienna, VA called The Coffee Caboodle. They used a tea broker over in London to buy their selections and ship them. The owner eventually retired but her son still sells coffee and tea from another shop called The Italian Gourmet. Fortunately, it's in the same shopping area that the Caboodle was. They sell Russian Georgian tea and it's one of my favorites. It has a natural sweetness to it so I usually don't use much sugar in it. I also like to purchase English Breakfast, Irish Breakfast and Ceylon from them. They will ship orders of three pounds or more. I'm almost out of tea so I need to plan a trip soon. Unfortunately, they're almost two hours from where I live. There is a another place more local that I think I will try soon. Their website says they sell over 40 kinds of tea including Russian Caravan and the menu looks delicious.
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