Russia
Home to the northernmost commercial tea in the world, grown in a small pocket of Krasnodar Krai behind Sochi where the Caucasus shelters the coast from continental winters. Everything about the crop follows from the latitude: the bushes are frost-hardy selections, the growing season is short, yields are low and the tea is a domestic curiosity rather than an export commodity. Russia’s significance to tea is overwhelmingly as a consumer and a trade route, not as a grower.
Production, trade and price
| Measure | Year | Value | Basis | Published by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Imports | 2024 | 87,181 t external_agency | FAOSTAT TCL element 'Import quantity' for item 667 / CPC 01620 'Tea leaves', in tonnes of MADE TEA. Includes tea imported for re-export, which is why entrepôt economies appear larger than their drinking population would suggest. FAOSTAT flags this cell X, a figure carried in from an external organization rather than reported by the country. | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Statistics Division |
| Import value | 2023 | 428,104,000 USD external_agency | FAOSTAT TCL element 'Import value' for item 667 / CPC 01620 'Tea leaves'. FAO publishes this in thousands of US dollars; TeaHQ scales it to whole US dollars, an exact conversion. Customs valuation practice for imports varies between countries. FAOSTAT flags this cell X, a figure carried in from an external organization. Published as 428,104 thousand USD. | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Statistics Division |
| Imports | 2023 | 112,929 t external_agency | FAOSTAT TCL element 'Import quantity' for item 667 / CPC 01620 'Tea leaves', in tonnes of MADE TEA. Includes tea imported for re-export, which is why entrepôt economies appear larger than their drinking population would suggest. FAOSTAT flags this cell X, a figure carried in from an external organization. | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Statistics Division |
| Imports | 2022 | 152,451 t external_agency | FAOSTAT TCL element 'Import quantity' for item 667 / CPC 01620 'Tea leaves', in tonnes of MADE TEA. Includes tea imported for re-export, which is why entrepôt economies appear larger than their drinking population would suggest. FAOSTAT flags this cell X, a figure carried in from an external organization rather than reported by the country. | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Statistics Division |
| Imports | 2021 | 154,983 t | FAOSTAT TCL element 'Import quantity' for item 667 / CPC 01620 'Tea leaves', in tonnes of MADE TEA. Includes tea imported for re-export, which is why entrepôt economies appear larger than their drinking population would suggest. FAOSTAT flags this cell A, an official figure reported by the country. | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Statistics Division |
| Imports | 2020 | 151,441 t | FAOSTAT TCL element 'Import quantity' for item 667 / CPC 01620 'Tea leaves', in tonnes of MADE TEA. Includes tea imported for re-export, which is why entrepôt economies appear larger than their drinking population would suggest. FAOSTAT flags this cell A, an official figure reported by the country. | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Statistics Division |
| Imports | 2019 | 150,348 t | FAOSTAT TCL element 'Import quantity' for item 667 / CPC 01620 'Tea leaves', in tonnes of MADE TEA. Includes tea imported for re-export, which is why entrepôt economies appear larger than their drinking population would suggest. FAOSTAT flags this cell A, an official figure reported by the country. | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Statistics Division |
| Imports | 2018 | 163,802 t | FAOSTAT TCL element 'Import quantity' for item 667 / CPC 01620 'Tea leaves', in tonnes of MADE TEA. Includes tea imported for re-export, which is why entrepôt economies appear larger than their drinking population would suggest. FAOSTAT flags this cell A, an official figure reported by the country. | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Statistics Division |
| Imports | 2017 | 168,785 t | FAOSTAT TCL element 'Import quantity' for item 667 / CPC 01620 'Tea leaves', in tonnes of MADE TEA. Includes tea imported for re-export, which is why entrepôt economies appear larger than their drinking population would suggest. FAOSTAT flags this cell A, an official figure reported by the country. | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Statistics Division |
| Imports | 2016 | 164,398 t | FAOSTAT TCL element 'Import quantity' for item 667 / CPC 01620 'Tea leaves', in tonnes of MADE TEA. Includes tea imported for re-export, which is why entrepôt economies appear larger than their drinking population would suggest. FAOSTAT flags this cell A, an official figure reported by the country. | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Statistics Division |
| Imports | 2015 | 173,065 t | FAOSTAT TCL element 'Import quantity' for item 667 / CPC 01620 'Tea leaves', in tonnes of MADE TEA. Includes tea imported for re-export, which is why entrepôt economies appear larger than their drinking population would suggest. FAOSTAT flags this cell A, an official figure reported by the country. | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Statistics Division |
| Imports | 2014 | 172,607 t | FAOSTAT TCL element 'Import quantity' for item 667 / CPC 01620 'Tea leaves', in tonnes of MADE TEA. Includes tea imported for re-export, which is why entrepôt economies appear larger than their drinking population would suggest. FAOSTAT flags this cell A, an official figure reported by the country. | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Statistics Division |
| Imports | 2013 | 173,070 t | FAOSTAT TCL element 'Import quantity' for item 667 / CPC 01620 'Tea leaves', in tonnes of MADE TEA. Includes tea imported for re-export, which is why entrepôt economies appear larger than their drinking population would suggest. FAOSTAT flags this cell A, an official figure reported by the country. | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Statistics Division |
| Imports | 2012 | 180,486 t | FAOSTAT TCL element 'Import quantity' for item 667 / CPC 01620 'Tea leaves', in tonnes of MADE TEA. Includes tea imported for re-export, which is why entrepôt economies appear larger than their drinking population would suggest. FAOSTAT flags this cell A, an official figure reported by the country. | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Statistics Division |
| Imports | 2011 | 187,790 t external_agency | FAOSTAT TCL element 'Import quantity' for item 667 / CPC 01620 'Tea leaves', in tonnes of MADE TEA. Includes tea imported for re-export, which is why entrepôt economies appear larger than their drinking population would suggest. FAOSTAT flags this cell X, a figure carried in from an external organization rather than reported by the country. | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Statistics Division |
| Imports | 2010 | 181,619 t | FAOSTAT TCL element 'Import quantity' for item 667 / CPC 01620 'Tea leaves', in tonnes of MADE TEA. Includes tea imported for re-export, which is why entrepôt economies appear larger than their drinking population would suggest. FAOSTAT flags this cell A, an official figure reported by the country. | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Statistics Division |
Figures are reproduced as their publisher stated them and are not converted, averaged or ranked. Where two publishers disagree, both rows appear — this comes from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Statistics Division. The largest single trap in tea statistics is that FAO’s series counts green leaf as plucked while national tea boards count finished made tea, and the two differ by roughly a factor of four and a half. The basis column says which each row is, and a figure without it is not comparable to one with it.
How production is organised
A handful of operations in one small pocket of coast, at a scale where the sector's structure is a list of companies rather than a system. There is no auction, no export trade and no smallholder sector; output is sold domestically as a curiosity and a provenance story, and it competes against imported tea that is cheaper by an order of magnitude. Russia's structural weight in tea is entirely on the consuming and trading side, which is a different subject from this field.
How firm this is: Inferred by TeaHQ from general knowledge of the trade rather than taken from a source that states it.
What it produces
A very small black-tea sector in the Sochi hinterland, with a short seasonal harvest and frost-tolerant plant material, sold almost entirely within Russia.
How firm this is: Inferred by TeaHQ from general knowledge of the trade rather than taken from a source that states it. The northernmost-cultivation claim is widely reported and treated here as directionally reliable rather than verified.
What it is known for
The categories this country is most associated with. Being known for a category is a fact about reputation and volume rather than about quality.
- Black tea — Tea taken deliberately through full enzymatic oxidation, giving the dark leaf, amber-to-red liquor and malty or brisk character most Western drinkers think of as simply 'tea'.
Growing regions in Russia
Named districts with their own elevation, climate and character. Elevation figures are recorded as ranges because sources disagree on where a district begins and ends.
How tea is drunk here
The samovar is a water heater, not a teapot: a concentrated zavarka is brewed separately and diluted from the samovar’s tap to taste. 'Russian Caravan' is a smoky blend named for the overland tea trade rather than a Russian-grown tea.
Teas from Russia
Sources
- TeaHQ editorial synthesis — TeaHQ
Everything on this page is TeaHQ’s own synthesis of widely-attested trade and production background. No external document stands behind it, which is why the statements here describe practice rather than assert measurements.