Germans drink over 133 million cups of tea every day. And they're often more discerning than they used to be, because they want to know if they're really holding a good cup in their hands. People actually making（使） the tea in the factories, they don't almost get anything. Tea drinkers' ever more exacting demands（ 要求） are pushing producers to get more creative. We always take a step further and ask, is that available in Germany too? And many companies show how climate protection（保护） and tea production can go hand in hand.

  It will also reduce my tea production cost by 15%. And more and more tea drinkers want to have a positive impact. Well, I will be surprised if they make six or seven kilos per day. I think they will also go to the other plot later. In western Georgia（(美)乔治亚州）, Kristina Mejic from Estonia and Thomas Kacelionas from Lithuania are reinventing tea production and getting a fresh start themselves. Four years ago, they tried their hand at farming for the very first time, and began a new life 3,000 kilometers from home.

  Well, if you want to take only highest quality leaves（许可）, you have to do it by hand, because it would be impossible to cut it mechanically（机械地） on these two leaves（许可） on the bud（芽） level. Because mechanically it takes everything, those hard and dull（枯燥的） leaves（许可） as well. In Estonia, Kristina Mejic used to work as a marketing expert for a bus company, but now she heads a tea plantation（种植园）. It's the best way to be in connection with the nature, actually. You see them growing in the spring when the first small ones start to grow, it's really an amazing feeling. And tea has a long tradition in Georgia.

  In Soviet times, 90% of the tea for the gigantic（巨大的） multi-ethnic（种族的） state was produced here, using machinery（机械） and pesticides（杀虫剂）. But the tea production at the foot of the Caucasus Mountains ended up collapsing（倒塌） along with the Soviet Union 30 years ago. And the once flourishing business gave way to poverty. A few years ago, Kristina remembered the Georgian tea she used to always drink with her parents, and then she wondered why no one drank it anymore. And we started to look into what has happened to this tea in Georgia, and we understood that it has collapsed completely. So this kind of, like, sparked（发动） this idea, so it got really interesting.

  And we contacted the people here, of course they didn't believe us at first, so like, Estonians want to grow tea. Like, that doesn't sound like very, like, logical（合逻辑的） or real. But when we got here then they were like, "Yeah, okay（好）, you're serious." Along with a few friends, Kristina Mejic and Tomas Katzelionas decided to take the plunge（投入）, quit their jobs, and start new lives. I was quite successful in this corporate（社团的） business, but I didn't have a feeling that I'm actually creating something. There were those Excel（优秀） tables, those meetings, present point presentations, and so on and so on.

  But I didn't have a feeling that I actually make something that would, well, left a footprint（脚印） in this world. When I heard about this idea, I thought, well, this is it. It's either now or never. Here at the border of Asia, the damp subtropical（亚热带的） climate and acidic（ 酸的） soil are ideal for tea, but also for weeds（杂草）. It took months to clear the old fields. They finally rid（使摆脱） this field of ferns（[植]蕨类植物） just three weeks ago.

  I think we never actually thought about it. People kept telling us, "Are you stupid? Just put something on it." I think there was even a joke, like some person said, like a worker, "Just put something no one will know." Yeah, that's how it goes. So it's like, in our mindset, that was never an option. And they're part of a real trend.

  In Germany, the amount of black and green tea farmed organically（器官上地） rose by about 1% to 12.9% in 2020, while fruit and herbal teas increased by 2.5% to 13.5%. Ms.Zia Kinsura-Shvili and the other tea pickers are benefiting from the new organic（[有化] 有机的） tea idea. They worked on plantations as young women, and they're back at it again decades later. 3.34 kilogram. Super（特级的） choice, super（特级的）. The 69-year-old works six days a week, making about 20 euros a shift.

  I really like this setup（装备）. I'm retired, but I can't make ends meet with my pension（养老金）. So that's why I'm out here picking tea. And I'm really thankful. I'm very happy to do it, because this job gives me enough money to buy bread, and I can feed my family. The young plantation owners had to get creative to figure（ 认为） out how to pay the tea pickers fair wages（工资）.

  Tea may be in, but it shouldn't give consumers a bad conscience（良心）. And that's why the Berliners Aaron Murrow, Sven Bock and Leon Francken launched（发射） their startup Karma Collective（集体）. It's mission（使命） is to help customers make（使） a difference. People ideally（理想地） ought to see their wallets as a sort of ballot（ 投票） paper. It lets them proclaim（宣告）, "I choose to support this or that company." And that includes startups aiming to achieve new, positive things.

  And I think that's what sets them apart. The young entrepreneurs（<法>企业家） plan to expand their range of products. Their idea is to market very regional（ 地区的）, natural teas in returnable bottles. I'm often told things won't work. And that's what's so appealing（吸引人的）. Trying things that aren't supposed to work, like making bottled drinks.

  People always say, "No way without sugar and preservatives（防腐剂）." But it can work. And our approach（向…靠近） is to include regional（ 地区的） ingredients. Brandenburg is close by for Berliners. And the German capital is full of organic food enthusiasts（狂热者）. So that's why Aaron Murrow got in touch with Joerg Juster, who's cultivating（培养） 40 hectares（公顷） of fennel.

  And that's just one of the flavors of Aaron Murrow's new teas. Depending on what the weather allows, you can keep harvesting（收获） it for three or four years in a row. And it tastes good. It tastes good. He's nearing his goal of producing tea regionally. Of course.

  It's really an almost emotional（感情的） experience. Because I know at some point, things will be running like clockwork. And that's so nice.