tea in Kazakhstan

[john.b]

A bit different for me, a chance mention of an out of the way country led to researching tea in Kazakhstan, traditional practices, modern forms, consumption, etc. Part of that was about finding out about tea in some remote area, and part was just seeing what turns up when you review such a thing, about the research and networking process.

It kind of came together. It's not easy to summarize since it's a decent length article, but I could mention a few points, then add the link, since it seems sketchy just adding post links here:

-they drink a lot of tea there, one of the top 10 consumers in the world per person (England probably edges past them but not by much)
-the background is tied to Russia (the USSR thing), but prior to that more like Mongolia (butter tea and such), who did conquer them way back when too, that Gengis Khan period
-they're not so bad off now compared to other regional countries due to having good oil and gas reserves (not an uncommon theme, I guess)
-it's too cold to grow much tea, but a bit of mention of an exception came up
-modern tea drinking is not so interesting, black tea with milk range

There's more, details and pictures and links here, but that's the basics:

http://teaintheancientworld.blogspot.co ... hstan.html

[buykenyantea.com]

Thank you for the insight in the tea market environment in Kazakhstan.

I'm trying to research key players and individuals in this market.

Regards
Christine