Scientific Tea Association of Iran to be Established in the Near Future

All the required groundwork has been done to establish Scientific Tea Association of Iran. Preparations such as forming board of founding members, registering the Association as well as putting together its committees, have been made. It was planned to unveil this Association in the National Conference of Tea and Herbal Tea; however, due to snow and its hindrances, it was postponed to a more proper time.

In the sidelines of the National Conference of Tea and Herbal Tea in Lahijan, in a special interview with IRNA, Dr. Mohammad Bagher Rezaei noted, “All the required groundwork has been done to establish Scientific Tea Association of Iran. Preparations such as forming board of founding members, registering the Association as well as putting together its committees, have been made. It was planned to unveil this Association in the National Conference of Tea and Herbal Tea; however, due to snow and its hindrances, it was postponed to a later time.”

He added, “All the country’s officials in respect to tea, are members of this Association. The Association will start its work in a month time.”

This Scientific Secretary of National Conference of Tea and Herbal Tea further indicated, “The Association will be managing all the scientific data, aggregating the national and international congresses on tea, conducting research and studies on tea, holding technical meetings and supervising research and scientific journals on tea. On establishing the Association, via the scientific cores and the tea mechanization committees as well as tea biotechnology, the new tea products,  formed from tea, can be monitored.”

Referring to the impact of this Association on the scientific foundation of tea, he added, “Its permanent committees and the connection between the experts and the universities as well as the scientific centers, may result in a transformation in the tea industry.”

He also referred to the National Conference of Tea and Herbal Tea, “After consistent reviews, the permanent secretariat of the conference was established in the city of Lahijan. This conference was broadly received by researchers and pundits; however, the officials must not refrain from assisting it. Their financial, scientific or technical support as well as the notable attendance of experts, are of great significance to this conference.”

Rezaei indicated, “The Medicinal Plants Scientific Association of Iran started its work in 2005, and in the beginning, its conferences were more general, but at the moment, they are both technical and international,  making the National Conference of Tea and Herbal Tea, which was held in Lahijan in February, one of its most important conferences.”

“One of its other international conference, is the conference on mushrooms (toadstools), which is to be held in Zanjan Province, in July. It is on medicinal plants, biotechnology and natural mushrooms.”

Iran’s National Conference on Tea and Herbal Tea was held in early February, and attended by experts as well as the country’s managers and officials in the Tea Research Institute in Lahijan.

Haj Mohammad Mirza Kashef Al Saltane’s first efforts to import tea to Iran were doomed to failure, and it wasn’t until 1897 that 1000 saplings of tea was imported to Iran from India and planted in Lahijan despite so many problems as well as lack of local support.

On planting tea in Lahijan and its flourish, he was named Iran’s Father of Tea, and Lahijan became known as Iran’s Tea Capital, leading to the establishment of the Country’s Tea Organization and Tea Research Institute in this city.