Georgian Tea 1847

When I hosted my friend, her parents, and her SO over for Canadian Thanksgiving (my own family had ditched me for a trip abroad), they picked this tea to pair with our roast duck dinner (I love trying out other people’s holiday traditions). The roasted sweet barley notes paired exceptionally well with the meal, but the company had a hard time wrapping their mind around this being a green tea.

The only baseline I have to compare it to is hojicha or actual barley tea. Neither is my favourite go-to beverage, but I always enjoy drinking them when they’re available (usually at restaurants). I loved how forgiving and mild this tea is and enjoyed it as an evening cuppa. It will be missed.

Now I need to try the other Georgian Teas; thank you so much for putting this together, Martin!

A sipdown! (M: 5, Y: 13) Prompt: An afternoon tea, as drank in the afternoon
And very sad one. Wonderful tea. Strong and robust, a bit astringent, but today with way more sweet notes, namely sweet potatoes, brown sugar and honey. Smooth, and not bitter at all.

A bit stronger tea like Guria Likhauri, which, and I repeat myself, makes sense, as it is very same region of tea.

If you need a daily-drinker, with lovely flavour profile, I can recommend you this tea. 100 g for 3.75 USD is unbeateable deal IMO.

ashmanra in comments for previous note: “And let us know what your parents say when they try the tea!”

They say, it is indeed very similar, and they loved it, mostly for the lovely sweet note of it and no bitterness here. I have prepared in a family pot; and then a last serving for myself, single cup.

Wow! This tea is very strong and robust, with high level of astringency, however not bitter! We have first snow here and this was a great cup to enjoy.

I have used two teaspoons for my 300 ml cup and steeped it for 4 and something minutes and it was really strong. Warming me from toes through chest to my fingers.

Although I said it is robust, I have to mention two other qualities that I have noticed. It is certainly somehow floral, a little like Guria Likhauri which isn’t surprising at all, but this tea is much stronger — and honey smoothness and flavour as well. It was somehow sweet, brown sugar comes to mind and sweet potatoes a little bit (a rare occurence as I don’t have much experience with them).

I need to brew it to my parents, if it is like “Georgian tea” from their childhood. Back then there were available only three black teas — Pigi tea (dust and fannings), Ceylon tea (fannings, middle range) and Georgian tea (high-end, though fannings like here as well). They had the last mentioned only a few times though. That was Comminist era here. No quality tea and if better, it was very expensive.

But I really liked this one!

Finally dipping into 1 of these Georgian teas. Thanks so much for orchestrating the group buy, Martin :)

The flavor and aroma are full of sweet-roasty and slightly tangy goodness. Roasted barley, caramelized sugar leaning almost burnt, toast and wood all underscored by refined grassy astringency. Earthy in vibe but not taste. Somewhat mineral texture, good mouthfeel that’s a little oily. One thing that arrested me was the color of the tea in the bowl — an alluring, deep shade of salmon with a vibrant clarity. Fresh tea, what a treat :) That’s about as deep as I’m going to get tonight.

I thought this roasted green tea was going to be a wild card but it’s really well balanced and refined. Turns out to be made with a hand that knows what makes houjicha a cup of hot comfort :)

One more :)

Addendum: brewed in a bowl today at work with dispenser hot water, the astringency was no longer in balance and the tea didn’t develop that deep salmon color until the third top-off. Probably due to filtration and pH level — every tea I drink at home uses unfiltered tap water which definitely has calcium in it. Nothing crazy but I do think it smooths most of my at-home brews.

Dry leaf smelled of jujube and blueberry. When heated, the aroma turns slightly earthy with a little black tea malt.

The tea brews up a medium amber resembling a GABA oolong with its potato skin earthiness and prune-like flavor. There’s a very subtle undertone of blueberry that lends a pleasant fruity touch.

A nice tisane especially if you’re looking for something that tastes like real tea. Just wish the blueberry flavor was more prominent.

Very fragrant, fruity aroma like baked plums. Fairly light bodied with a little malt and sweet potato. Good but nothing special. Will have to play around with it to see if I can bring out the fruitiness from the aroma.

First tea from the Georgian tea group buy.

Dark green strands resembling Huangshan Mao Feng. Dry leaf is fairly odorless until dropped in a heated vessel where it emits a faint green bean aroma.

This one tastes more like sheng puerh than a green tea to me. Golden yellow liquor with hay and straw flavors and a light fruitiness. Has that earthy-woodsy sheng type flavor going on. Ordinarily not a flavor profile I’m fond of – I prefer fresh tasting green tea – but here it’s fairly enjoyable because the earthiness is soft and doesn’t have the bitterness and smokey flavor often found in puerh.

Sipdown 26

Slowly sipped through my 50gram bag at work over the last couple weeks. Such a delicious black tea.

Already finished this off! It was absolutely delicious and so easy to drink. Full of caramelized sugar and sweet potato. A touch of dried fruit.

First tea I’m trying out from the group order.

Very pleased with this! It smells SO fresh. I drank it pretty quickly as I was doing homework, so I can’t confidently comment on the notes, but it was so smooth and rich. Excited to keep trying these Georgian teas.

I’m impressed with this unassuming tea that appears non-descript but brews up smooth and flavorful. There’s a roasty hay note to start and a honey finish on this first steep that disappeared quickly. The second steep was a bit weak, so I extended for another 5 minutes and that brought out the muted toasty notes and the honey finish. I’ll enjoy the rest of this small bag and will try to coax more flavor in an extra steep each time.

Finally, this long week is finally over! Okay, I know tomorrow is Friday, but we have a bank holiday and it’s greatly appreciated. My co-worker is ill (and will be for long time), I had lots of to do, because I wasn’t in the office last week (because of training) and moreover my brother and father are with Covid — so it’s up to me do all the chores, including shopping groceries. At least they are doing better and better.

Draining! that’s the word.

Anyway, decided to brew this one again, after mowing session (half of the garden done, another chore) and I am glad I chose it.

It’s fairly simple tea. LuckyMe says that it reminds them a sheng puerh and I have to agree. Hay-straw taste, with woody notes indeed. Lighlty mineral this time, the “grassy” notes were stronger. Maybe longer steeping time?

In conclusion, yep — it’s simple. “Wild” doesn’t add any complexity as usual. But afterall, Georgia isn’t the most famous for green teas.

Hey guys! Don’t be afraid to write notes of those teas! Even bad ones.

I am very surprised that noone wrote a single line and a few of you got them already. Hopefully this note can change it a bit.

Because I have tried it today, two or three pinches (I haven’t weighted it) and used quite hot water (it was boiling, but resting on the stove-top for a few minutes). So, sadly I don’t know the temperature either. Prepared western in large basket-strainer.

Anyway, after a short steeping time — it was 2 minutes at maximum, I got bright green liquid which had aroma of sweet grass. Buffalo grass? I don’t know names of grasses.

The brew is silky smooth with light mineral/again sweet grass notes. Aftertaste is very sweet and very enjoyable. As I had 50 grams, I have a plenty to try this more, with many different steeping parameters, methods etc.