19th century
The beginning
The family lays its first saffron beds in the villages of Absheron. The corms pass from father to son — not as seed, but as inheritance.
Six generations, one plant.
The Absheron peninsula is one of the few places in the world where saffron grows: salt wind, sandy soil, dry summers. Our family has planted saffron on this land for more than a hundred and fifty years.
1959
Rajab Huseynov
Rajab Huseynov begins work in the fields beside the Zafaran state farm. In those years Azerbaijan was the only republic in the USSR to grow saffron on an industrial scale.
The next generation
Mikayil Huseynov
The founder. He turns the family craft into a brand: AZSAFFRON. MIKTEA tea carries his name.
Today
Mushvig Huseynov
Owner and chief executive. The aim is simple to state and hard to achieve: to make the finest saffron products in the world. The fields now stretch from Absheron to Barda and Fuzuli.
The sixth generation
Sara Huseynova
She takes saffron from the kitchen to perfumery: working with perfumers, she creates the Private Collection and SARA Cosmetics.
Why Absheron
Saffron likes a hot, dry summer and a mild, rainy autumn. Absheron has both. Nizami Ganjavi wrote of the healing power of saffron as early as the 12th century — this plant is no stranger to this land.
Made by hand
The flower is picked at dawn. The stigmas are separated by hand the same day, dried and packed in tightly sealed glass. A kilogram of saffron takes 150,000–200,000 flowers.
What the laboratory says
Every batch is tested to the ISO 3632 standard in accredited European laboratories. The result: Category I, no artificial dye detected.
295
Crocin
colouring strength · threshold ≥ 200
100
Picrocrocin
flavour · threshold ≥ 70
38
Safranal
aroma · range 20–50