Smoke, Silk Routes & Soviet Fields: The Story of Caravan Tea

The tea that came back from the wild

There’s a moment, somewhere between the first pour and the first sip of Caravan Tea, where you catch it. It’s the quiet whisper of campfire smoke, something deep that hums underneath. It doesn’t announce itself, it settles in.

That’s not an accident. That’s history.

What is Caravan Tea?

Caravan Tea takes it’s name and it’s character from the ancient overland trade routes, the Great Tea Road, that carried tea from China across Central Asia and into Russia and Eastern Europe. The journeys took months, if not years with caravans full to the brim of treasures from far lands – silk, tea, tobacco. Each pieces of gold in their own right, and each with a story to tell. 

The tea especially was like gold dust. Over its long journey, in order to keep the leaves dry and not rot, fires were lit beside the caravans to keep the damp away, and the tea chests absorbed the smoke from those fires. By the time they arrived at their destination, the leaves had taken on a subtle smokiness that traders and drinkers came to love. Eventually, it became intentional.

It’s a more nuanced, more balanced cousin of Lapsang Souchong. Softer on the smoke, richer on the fruit. Where Lapsang can sometimes feel like it’s trying to make a point, Caravan Tea simply tells it’s story.

The fields that time forgot

Georgia, during the Soviet era, was one of the world’s great tea-producing nations, responsible for around 45% of all black tea produced in the USSR. When the Soviet Union collapsed, the industry largely collapsed with it. The estates were abandoned and the fields were left to themselves.

For 30 to 40 years, those plantations grew wild. Trees moved in, undergrowth took over and quietly, undisturbed, the tea plants kept thriving. Shaded by natural forest canopy, rooted in biodiverse, untouched soil, effectively organic by default because no one had been there to interfere.

Then a new generation arrived.

A new generation to carry the load: Zemo tea gardens

Our Caravan Tea comes from Zemo Tea Gardens, high in the Imereti region of Georgia, overlooking the Tkibuli Reservoir. Zemo means ‘on top’ in Georgia and these gardens earn the name, sitting at some of the highest elevations in the country.

Georgii and his team are part of a new wave of young Georgian producers who have spent years restoring these forgotten Soviet-era plantations. It’s patient, painstaking work – clearing, reviving, learning to work with land that hasn’t been farmed in decades. The altitude, the biodiversity and that long period of dormancy have produced something incredibly rare: a leaf that is naturally sweet, earthy and complex, processed in small artisanal batches with real care for what ends up in the cup.

This is the kind of producer relationship we aim to discover. People who are building something meaningful, in places most people haven’t thought to look yet.

A carton made by hand, by a Georgian artist

This is a unique tea. We wanted the packaging to reflect that. So for this Guest Edition, we commissioned local Georgian artist Sopho Pepanashvili to design the carton. Her artwork, a smoked image of Mother Nature, reflects the soul of the Imereti region and the spirit of the tea itself. It’s a piece of artwork as much as a piece of packaging.

The tea is available exclusively for retail as loose leaf. And when it’s gone, it’s gone.

You asked for it

This is our very first Guest Tea. Our way of going against the grain and bringing in something special for a limited time, and this one started with you. After numerous requests from our community for a smoky black tea, we went looking for the right one. Not just any smoked tea. It had to be the right origin, the right producer, the right story.

Georgia, Zemo Tea Gardens and this story felt like the answer. We think you’ll agree.

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