Ukrainian tea plantation "Zhornyna Mountain - Chervona (Red) Mountain" (1949 - 2018)

Ukrainian tea plantation "Zhornyna Mountain - Chervona (Red) Mountain". Foto Maks Adamenko

The history of unique Ukrainian tea plantation has begun in 1949, when a team of All-Union research institute of tea and subtropical agriculture (Georgia), supervised by Dr. I. I. Chkhaidze, started works on the base "Zhornyna Mountain - Chervona (Red) Mountain" near Mukachevo. The same time, there were founded other experimental areas in six Trans-Carpatian regions. All those initiatives were implemented within a big project of National Academy of Sciences of USSR; in 1950, they got together into United complex expedition for tea culture development. There were some attempts to acclimatize tea on territories of Moldova, Trans-Carpatia, Crimea, Primorsky Krai, South Sakhalin and Kunashir Island.

The main aim of the project was "...full satisfaction of Soviet people’s needs for domestic tea", because successfully implemented in Georgia in the period 1930-1940 similar project gave about 30% of consumed in USSR tea. Trans-Carpatia was considered in USSR as the second (after Georgia) region to produce tea.

That big project has been canceled since 1953. Among all experimental areas founded in Trans-Carpatian region only Red Mountain’s persisted. Yet in the last 1980 and early 1990 there were growing, blossoming and fructifying tea bushes of 1,5-2 m height. After canceling financial support to the research, the plantation has been abandoned: lots of tea bushes were dug and cut out, only roots remained. Thanks to the efforts of plantation workers tea bushes still grow, but there is insufficient capacity to develop the plantation.

Before 1999 "Zhornyna Mountain - Chervona Mountain" was the most northern tea plantation in Europe. After emerging such plantations in Germany and Great Britain, the Chervona Mountain lost that status, but there is the most frost resistant culture of tea worldwide (up to -26 C).

The remnants of the experimental area "Zhornyna Mountain - Chervona Mountain" could be used as a source of unique and fully adapted to Ukrainian climate genetic material.

Experimental developments of semi- and full-fermented teas, which have been done by us during 2015-18, demonstrated according to experts’ opinions the good potential of the Trans-Carpatian tea. Our experiments will be continued.

Even more hope gives the tea project of a private arboretum "Keltic Yard" (Mukachevo). Its owners, Yury and Galina Klovanich, planted the seeds of a tea plants in 2014. This year they made the first tea. From this year, cuttings from the plantation "Zhornyna Mountain - Red Mountain" grow in the arboretum also.

Photographs of the author unless otherwise indicated.
Autor M. Malyhin, translation by M. Kasianczuk, 2018