The fishing hole.
Changoi Estate even provides a stocked fishing hole for Estate families to catch fish for meals. The fishing hole also provides a natural habitat for many other bird and animal species.
Roadside tea shop.
Just like a roadside produce stall in the countryside back home. In Kenya they offer fresh teas that were produced that morning. You can imagine how good they are.
Shade grown tea.
Shade trees are an important feature on any Kenyan garden. As an added bonus, the trees provide a natural habitat for native flora and fauna.
Guatemala grass planting schedule.
Instead of rehabilitating fields with chemicals, Guatemala grass is planted. A relative of corn, the grass helps rejuvenate the soil naturally.
What it’s all about.
Peak season sun beating down on tea on Kapchorua Estate. This is what planters and tea lovers live for.
Grading the week’s production.
This handy chart helps factory managers grade all styles of tea produced during the past week. Has it been rolled properly? Cut properly? What temperature was it fired at? These are the questions that need to be answered to ensure a consistent product week after week.
Cupping tea on Changoi.
It was during a tasting session like this that we discovered Dryer Mouth Natural Tea. In Kenya it is not uncommon for tasters to sample literally hundreds of batch samples per day.
Another successful annual visit
Another successful trip to Africa. Production standards have
passed muster, the year’s crop is spectacular and we’ve
tasted some fantastic teas. Can’t
wait for next year!
A SURVEY OF THE KENYAN TEA INDUSTRY
This East African nation bordering the Indian Ocean boasts more than 110,000 hectares of land under tea with annual production of around 245 million kgs per year. Most of Kenya’s quality teas are grown in the lofty highlands west of the Rift Valley at altitudes between 5,000 and 9,000 feet.
Much of the country’s raw leaf is grown on the small farms
of private landholders and sold to local factories where it is
finished for export. Estimates put the number of acres under
tea in this capacity at around 170,000 acres. The system provides
a stable livelihood and continuous income stream for thousands
of Kenyans, since the tea plants are productive throughout the
year.
Finished tea is released though the Mombassa tea auction. This
auction came to prominence after the collapse of the London auction
in 1998 and serves Kenyan and many other East African growers. Mombassa
typically offers up to 7.5 million kgs of tea per week, a number
that can rise during peak growing seasons.
Metropolitan Tea in Kenya
Metropolitan Tea has a nearly 30 year history in dealing
with Kenya’s top producers. Our tea insight
and knowledge of Western tastes has even allowed us to have a hand
in the creation of some new and unique Kenyan tea offerings -
Natural Dryer mouth tea for example.
Here’s how that came about. On one of
our estate visits, we noticed some bins of un-sorted tea
being taken off the production line to be chopped up for
teabags. The tea looked quite interesting so we asked
if we could cup it in the factory tasting room. It
was delicious - round, malty and raw – a perfect addition
to our African lineup.
The result? Rather than down-grading a portion of their
tea for teabag packing, our producer has a new premium offering
and more robust income stream. In turn this means increased
profits for the many small hold farmers who supply his factory.
INTRODUCE YOUR CUSTOMERS TO THE RICH FLAVOR OF KENYAN
TEA TODAY
Even for tea tasters with 30 years in the business a trip to Kenya is always a fascinating learning experience
A morning’s harvest.
Unlike much of Asia and South Asia, in Kenya men and women both do the job of plucking tea. Note the incredible freshness of the seasonal leaf.
Weighing the day’s crop.
A family of tea growers brings their harvest to a weigh station. From here their tea will be taken to one of the large factories for processing.
Providing education for the future.
On the large estates, education for the children of all labourers is provided free of charge, an amazing option for families in the developing world. Health care is also provided in the form of hospitals and dispensaries.
In China, what we know in the West as black tea is actually called red tea. The name comes from the color of the tea’s liquor, not China’s political style.