Online Resources for Georgian Tea
It can be sometimes difficult to find clear information about Georgian tea online. While interesting tidbits can be found here and there about subjects such as notable tea makers and companies, scientific studies about Georgian tea, or details about the history of the industry, there aren’t many places online where all of this can be found together in an easily accessible, indexed form. In this article, we will provide links to some of the most useful websites and articles related to Georgian tea currently on the internet. In particular, a new venture called Tea Country aims to provide a practical, business parallel to our informational database, where Georgian tea can be purchased in consumer quantities with international shipping, and tea tours can be booked directly in different areas of Georgia.
Georgian Tea Makers
You’ve already found us, but to state our mission clearly: our website, Georgian Tea Makers, aims to serve as a foundational information database and connectivity resource for the entire artisanal Georgian tea community. Unlike a traditional brand site, this platform focuses on the human element of the industry, offering a detailed directory and descriptions of individual producers, their carefully crafted products and services, and the specificities of their regions. It is designed to act as a bridge between small-scale farmers and the international market, providing contact information for producers with an otherwise shallow web presence.
In our knowledge base, we aim to provide detailed context about the story of Georgian tea, collecting fragments of information – such as the science of frost-resistant plants or the history of wild-harvested blueberry leaf tea – into an accessible, well-written series of articles. Georgian Tea Makers is a project of Timothy’s Tours, a boutique travel operator which offers unconventional, unusual, and unique travel experiences in Georgia, including private visits with some of Georgia’s finest tea producers.
Tea Country
For those who’ve become inspired by the story of Georgian tea to start stocking it at their own home or business, Tea Country provides a unified e-commerce platform. A project from tea expert Beso Zalikiani, it is one of the only places online where consumers can buy teas from multiple different Georgian producers in a single transaction. Beyond its extensive support for tea retail, Tea Country is also a logistical hub for the concept of "Georgia Painted with Tea" as a cultural route, allowing travelers to book immersive tea tours and experiences directly, thus serving as a practical, one-stop shop for both the physical product and the tourism side of the Georgian tea industry.
Travel Blogs
Some of the best resources available online for tourists in Georgia interested in tea can be found at the independent blogs Red Fedora Diary and Wander-Lush. Both sites provide extensive, on-the-ground guides to the Guria and Imereti tea routes, contextualizing the tea revival within Georgia's broader landscape. Red Fedora Diary has a great article with a deep dive into the history and present state of the Georgian tea industry, including her own set of links to providers and resources around the internet.
Wander-Lush’s article is specifically focused on the Guria region, providing an excellent curation of destinations and producers. Beyond their guide pages, both sites maintain an extensive social media presence, providing a wealth of useful materials for travelers and tourists who want to connect to the story behind the tea, such as the architectural history of abandoned factories, the locations of decorative mosaic work related to the tea industry, and the best local guesthouses.
In Detail
To explore some of the finer details about the Georgian tea industry, it can be interesting to read the ISET Policy Institute publication from 2021 on the subject. The report offers a comprehensive economic analysis of the industry. The report details the challenges of land fragmentation and the potential for high-value specialty tea to revitalize rural communities, providing a sober but optimistic look at the sector’s financial future.
For a look at one of the most innovative movements in Georgian tea, a British vendor called Chai House hosts a digital resource for information about the groundbreaking Georgian Organic Tea Producers Association. This association, most of whose members are profiled on this website, brings together some of the most experienced tea professionals in Georgia under a set of world-class high standards for organic production and certification; the page provides information on the association’s members and their commitment to chemical-free farming, and offers an e-commerce platform for the purchase of their teas.
Unique Vendors
Finally, it’s worth pointing out two of the more unique well-established tea companies on the scene, which do not yet have full profiles on this website. Renegade Tea Estate was founded in 2017 by a group of Estonian and Lithuanian entrepreneurs and have become known as innovators in the sector, not just in terms of their delicious teas but also their innovate adopt-a-garden business model – customers don’t purchase packs of tea, they buy the proceeds of a specific plot of tea bushes at one of their three plantations in Imereti. The Renegade website is a beautiful exploration of their tea journey in Georgia and their further experiments with revitalizing coffee and tea growing communities in Madagascar and Papua New Guinea.
Greengold, a project of two Georgian friends, has revitalized more than 25 hectares of tea bush and the old central Ozurgeti tea factory since their start in 2016. They offer a wide-ranging catalogue of tea varieties, both under their own branding and in bulk for private-label clients, in more than 20 countries around the world, and are one of the foremost names representing Georgian tea as a large-scale player in the global market. The Greengold website offers extensive, easily navigable details about their work processes and product range.
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