Bayram Tea Harvest: Features of This Year and Our Plans

Holidays are often tiring but joyful, and for us, the Bayram tea harvest is just like that. We get tired, but at the same time, we feel a strange happiness.

The Late Arrival of Tea

This year, the tea arrived a bit late. It was delayed by 4 weeks compared to last year. The cold and rainy weather in April caused the tea buds to develop later. We were only able to start harvesting on May 17. However, this delay turned out to be a sign of a much more flavorful and high-quality harvest.

Hand-Picking Tea: A Craft

This year, we were able to get much more hand-picked tea. Hand-picking tea is a labor-intensive job. The increase in the number of our growers every year brings us great joy. This is because hand-picked tea has a higher economic value and is much better for the plant. Additionally, the grower adds value to the tea by carrying less weight.

More Tea Than Expected

As you can understand, we are really happy this year. We couldn’t keep up with the speed of our growers. The tea came in larger quantities than our capacity, but we didn't refuse any to avoid putting anyone in a difficult situation.

The Quality of Tea: Green and Black Tea

As a result, we produced green teas rich in polyphenols, with an extract rate of 42.3%. We had much more green tea than last year. Additionally, we plan to create more unique blends with our green tea this year. Our black tea turned out to be quite tasty; it has a very high aroma value and is becoming more high-quality every year. We produced much more black tea compared to last year.

Plans for Next Year

Our biggest plan for next year is to significantly increase the amount of hand-picked tea, and even spread this method across all of Rize, village by village. We have endless faith that Turkish tea will reach a prominent place in the world. The quality of our tea leaves is truly excellent, and our only wish is to carry out this process without damaging the tea while picking and transferring it. We must be careful to harvest and produce good tea.

In Conclusion

Tea production is not just a job for us; it is a passion. This year’s harvest and our plans for the future excite us greatly. We will continue working to enhance the quality of tea and take Turkish tea to a better place. With love, Lazika.