Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

Azerbaijanis are well known as a nation that loves to drink tea. The tea culture is so pervasive that population can be seen drinking tea all day long from early morning until late at night, despite the season. A cup of tea from a pear shaped armudu glass is always a good idea here.

This may seem strange for the many foreigners who come to Azerbaijan for the first time, but eventually even foreigners adopt this tradition.

The country’s produces its favorite beverage in the south, where the climate is subtropical. Tea growing in Azerbaijan was founded in the early 1930s in the Southern cities of Astara and Lankaran.

The main producer of tea in Azerbaijan is Azersun Holding, which collects tealeaves from both the Lankaran and Astara locations, as well as its tea plantations in Sri Lanka.

Some eighty percent of tea drinkers in Azerbaijan prefer local tea, which testifies to its quality.

Head of the Consumers Union Eyyub Huseynov told local press that Azerbaijanis prefer local tea because of its good quality, which is not inferior to imported tea. He said the Consumers Union has never received complaints about this product.

Local tea is exported to almost all of the CIS countries, as well as to Europe and the United States.

According to the State Statistics Committee, a total of 474.2 tons of tealeaves were collected in the country in 2014, slightly down from the 2013 figure of 570 tons.

Despite the slight decrease in the collection of tea last year, the demand for tea has once again on the rise in 2015. As of June some 251.8 tons of tealeaves were collected in the country, which is by 14.2 percent more than in January-May 2014.

However, Azerbaijan not only exports, but it imports tea as well. The country mostly imports tea from Sri Lanka, India, Vietnam, Kenya, Turkey, Russia, etc.

Azerbaijan is among the leading countries in terms of tea consumption per capita. Statistics show that the annual consumption of tea by the over 9.5 million population is no less than 11,600 tons.

For this reason, the country attracts the attention of tea-exporting countries such as India – the second largest producer of tea in the world after China.

Earlier, the Indian Tea Association expressed hope that it will find its niche in the tea markets of Azerbaijan and Georgia, in the hopes that it would eventually tap into the market in Turkey – the largest consumer of tea in the world.

The Chairman of the Sustainable Development Research Center, Nariman Agayev, believes that Azerbaijan should accept such offers.

“The raw Indian tea is imported to Azerbaijan through the south of Iran, and then processed in our factories, and allowed for sale, not only in Azerbaijan, but also Georgia and Turkey. Of course, the direct cooperation with India will only bring positive results,” he said to local media.

He went on to add that the Indians might apply modern methods of production in the country. “For us it will be a rewarding experience of cooperation on both the production and financial side.”

“However, in addition to the development of the market, we must pay attention to the promotion of our own brand. In our country, the domestic beverage is very popular, but outside of Azerbaijan, it undeservedly remains in the shadows,” he said.

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Nigar Orujova is AzerNews’s staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @o_nigar

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