The Mt. Galicica tea is to become a protected brand thanks to a project supported by the regional office of the German Association for Technical Cooperation (GTZ). Galicica National Park experts, who are in charge of the project, say that it is a rare type of tea, with a specific aroma, a strong essence, and an unusually high content of iron. Some 2,000kg of tea are believed to be picked on Mt. Galicica a year. For now, it is sold only on fruit and vegetable markets throughout Macedonia.

“The Macedonian-Albanian transborder cooperation in the Ohrid-Prespa area has been in progress for four years now. In cooperation with the Galicica National Park of Macedonia and the Prespa National Park of Albania, we began the protection of the mountain tea and its natural habitat and its registration as a trademark. At the same time, we train local inhabitants who will be engaged in picking the tea,” GTZ regional coordinator in Ohrid Anica Palaco says, adding that this will encourage the national parks residents' cooperation, which should in turn improve their economic status.

Starting from June this year, trained local inhabitants will pick the Siveritis Rezeri tea, which has been proved to have healing properties and is found only on Mt. Galicica. The campaign that will promote these healing properties and protect the tea trademark will also raise its price and facilitate its export. This will enable foreign visitors to take some tea back to their country legally and offer it to their friends as a tea with rare aroma and flavour.

“The Mt. Galicica tea is so special due to the climatic conditions and geological features of the mountain. It contains rare drugs that are not found in other types of tea. The high concentration of essential oils makes it particularly aromatic, while the iron content makes it so healthy," Andon Bojadzi of the Galicica National Park says.

There are many other healing herbs on Mt. Galicica, but, according to Bojadzi, the tea is most popular and if its picking gets out of control, its natural balance may be disturbed. This project will protect this rare type of natural tea and will enable the locals to earn more, as its price is expected to rise significantly.

Mt. Galicica is a protected natural reservation, in which over 1,000 species of plants have been registered so far, most of them endemic, while 15 species are found only on Galicica. Experts say that we should protect this natural treasure and use it restrictively to preserve its natural balance. Making Galicica tea a protected trademark may be the first successful step of the new Macedonian strategy for the protection and use of natural treasures.

Source: Utrinski Vesnik 27 March