Indian tea "with an elephant": composition, method of preparation and reviews

Today, many people do not even know what a deficit is. But after all, literally thirty years ago in the USSR people stood in queues for hours to buy food, the range of which left much to be desired. This was our country in the seventies and eighties of the last century. It was at that time that the Soviet people could first taste the taste of Indian tea. Today we will tell you all about black tea "with an elephant", which was considered one of the best products of a bygone era.

Own tea industry

Initially, there was only Russian Georgian tea in the USSR . This was a real breakthrough in the industrial industry, and the drink was even exported to other countries, where it became popular. That is why the authorities decided to expand production and from manual work went to the machine, which caused the loss of the former quality, as the mechanisms, unlike people, could not recognize the good tea sheets from the worthless ones. In the seventies the tea industry in the USSR fell, the state suffered losses and began to decide what to do about it.

The appearance on the shelves of tea "with an elephant"

Many people, who came to the USSR, sadly recall the times when both "the grass was greener and the sky - cleaner", and the products - the most qualitative, in comparison with them, even imported were useless. But many did not even suspect at the time that they drank tea, collected not in the territory of their beloved homeland, but far beyond its borders.

So it turned out that the Georgian tea had become unusable, so the USSR concluded a contract for the supply of tea with countries such as Sri Lanka, Kenya, Tanzania, India and Vietnam. With our previous importer, China, which could also supply tea, our state quarreled and therefore did not use its services. So, in order not to lose face to their citizens, the factories began to give out imported tea for domestic, bad Georgian sheets were added to it, so they did not vanish in vain. Since tea came in bulk in loose form, it was easy to do, without damages. Initially, this scam went well, but still "domestic" tea was replaced by the same Indian tea "with an elephant". Citizens really fell in love with him.

The history of making tea "with an elephant"

How did tea "with an elephant" appear on the shelves of domestic stores? The development of the recipe, according to one data, belongs to the tea-packing factory of Irkutsk, while others - the Moscow tea factory. But this is not so important now, and even then very few people asked this question. The main thing is that the recipe was so successful that the "elephant" tea was really different from all other drinks. This tea was distinguished not only by its bright and strong taste, but also by packaging, which was specially developed in 1967, and Indian tea "with an elephant" was sold in 1972.

Composition of tea

But then again, it was not true Indian tea, but blend (mixture). The composition of this tea was a variety of Georgian, and Madagascar, and Ceylon leaf.

Tea "with an elephant" was divided into higher and first grade, their composition was significantly different. In the first grade packaging there were only 15% of tea from India, 5% from Ceylon, 25% from Madagascar, and as much as 55% of sheets from Georgia.

The highest grade for that and the highest, and therefore the present Indian tea in it was one third, and two-thirds belonged to the Georgian.

Each of the varieties adhered to the requirements in accordance with GOST and TU, Indian tea was added only to the highest grade Darjeeling. This tea was produced in factories in Moscow, Irkutsk, Ryazan, Ufa, Odessa. Each factory had its own tasters, whose job it was to make the necessary mix of the purchased varieties, so that all the qualities corresponded to the product (taste, aroma, smell, color and price). Each factory was already quite self-sufficient and itself concluded contracts for the supply of tea with each country.

Packaging design

Since tea was produced in two grades, they needed to be somehow distinguished and visually. So, on the packaging of the first grade, the elephant had a blue color of the head, and on the top grade - green. Over time, the design changed, and each factory had its own differences. There was only one thing: a cardboard package, an elephant.

What kind of design had tea "with an elephant"? Consider the most memorable variations: the color of the package was both white and orange, but we are more familiar with yellow. The elephants themselves were different too, there were packages where one elephant with a lowered trunk stepping to the left was also with three elephants walking in the same direction, and also with a lowered trunk. The most striking example of the figure is the elephant, which stands with the raised trunk against the background of the Indian city, and the domes are clearly visible. On all of the above-mentioned elephants sat a driver.

Why do we really remember the yellow tea packing, where is the elephant on the background of India, and its trunk looks up? The thing is that due to the popularity of tea, and sometimes even its absence on the shelves, fakes often began to appear, where there was no smell from Indian tea, and most of the composition belonged to the awful quality of Turkish. In this regard, citizens began to give preference to one type of packaging, which was rarely counterfeited due to a more saturated pattern.

Symbol of the era

With memories of the times of the USSR, the image of that tea, the same elephant, soft cardboard packaging, is vividly emerging. Along with the many products of that era (to take the same condensed milk), this tea remains recognizable even in the two thousand years, and it can be remembered by more than seventy percent of the population of the former Union.

Tea "with an elephant" (price for 50 grams - 48 cents, and for 125 - 95 cents) was loved by everyone. The presence of this drink in the house spoke of the stable prosperity of the family.

But, like all good things, once tea disappeared from the counters "with an elephant". The USSR disintegrated, and tea could be found for a while, then it was simply swept off the shelves.

Brewing rules

Many mistresses made a terrible mistake when they took white sticks out of the "elephant" pack and, simply taking them out as garbage, they simply threw them away. After such a sweep, one could not fully experience the taste of tea, since those sticks were tipsy (kidney tea), and this is the raw material of the highest quality.

This tea is brewed in the same way as all other varieties. In the boiled water kettle for tea, fill up the necessary amount of tea leaves, pour boiling water. Leave to stand for at least ten minutes, you can dilute with milk.

Reviews of tea "with an elephant"

Many who remember that tea, can find on the shelves of shops similar in design products, which says "The very same tea." So, what do consumers say about Soviet tea "with an elephant" and its modern prototype?

There are records that when they saw such a familiar product in the store, people hurried to buy it, in order to ponostalgize. However, when brewing tea, nothing to do with the Soviet product was not found.

There is an opinion that, perhaps, it is really the same recipe, just during the Soviet times this tea was the best, but now people are spoiled by variety, and he just did not like the long-forgotten taste.

They write that tea "with an elephant" is remarkably remembered, and there was not at that time a more delicious drink.