A mechanical engineer from the village of Chalistavi, Shota Kopaliani has a vivid memory from his childhood: his grandmother would gather quince, thread it and store it for the winter. So, he set a goal for himself to produce quince leaves with modern technology. He achieved it in 2015. With the help of other tea growers, Kopaliani gathered knowledge, experimented, learned, and finally, started production of what he calls phyto tea.

For the last 6 years, Kopaliani has been picking wild blackberry, blueberry, quince, azalea, and lime flowers to make aromatic herbal tea with a unique flavour and health benefits. His region is an alpine zone, a pollution-free environment that is also free of pesticides. The products from Kopaliani's enterprise are high quality, something that is ensured by the ecologically clean source materials, organic extraction and green production process.

Needless to say, that running his tea production did not come without its challenges. Kopaliani has issues with the transportation of the gathered leaves to the processing facility. And he also needed assistance in processing, as the equipment he owned was not enough to process large amounts of leaves. He was lucky enough to receive support from the EU, Sweden and Austria through the GRETA project and all the necessary equipment.

“Such wishes only come true in dreams,” says Kopaliani. “With the EU, Sweden and Austria’s assistance through the GRETA project, the working process has become far less time-consuming and we’ve finally been able to expand production. We can sort and pack enough product to take our spot on Georgian and international markets as well.”

Today, Kopaliani’s plantation makes up to 800-1000 kg of organically certified herbal tea a month during the harvest season. For now, the enterprise supplies other companies. Herbal tea produced by Kopaliani is in growing demand due to its excellent quality and ecological purity.

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GRETA | Green Economy: Sustainable Mountain Tourism and Organic Agriculture in Georgia’ is supported by the European Union, Austria and Sweden, and is implemented in Georgia by the Austrian Development Agency. The project aims to facilitate the improvement of the business environment and increase opportunities for generating additional income for the Georgian economy in two important sectors, mountain tourism and organic agriculture. The project is implemented in close cooperation with the local government and involves the regions of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti, Racha-Lechkhumi-Kvemo Svaneti and upper Imereti, where the entrepreneurs are involved from the municipalities of Mestia, Lentekhi, Tsageri, Oni, Ambrolauri, Sachkhere, Chiatura and Tkibuli.

This material has been produced with the assistance of the European Union, Sweden and Austria in the frame of the GRETA project and with the collaboration of the EU4Business umbrella programme. Its contents are the sole responsibility of the GRETA project and EU4Business umbrella programme and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union, Sweden and Austria.