Jambo!

Kenyan Tea forms an important part of our blend for Yorkshire Tea – renowned for being bright, brisk and refreshing. I have been tasting Kenya Teas in their hundreds back in the tasting room at Yorkshire Tea HQ and to be here to witness their making is fascinating. Three weeks, sixteen tea factories and endless lush green tea fields since my last blog… I’m not quite sure where to start!  My travel plan is designed to follow seasons, allowing me to experience key times that affect tea production so I arrived in Kenya just as the short rains were coming to an end and the dry spell sets in – watching the land and its tea transform.

After landing on the shores of Lake Victoria, in no less than two hours I was breathing in the clean crisp air of Nandi Hills on the Western edge of the Rift Valley. This area is home to many of Kenya’s amazingly fit gold-medal athletes and even my car, struggling up a steep incline, was over taken by a runner!  The peaks of Nandi lie at over 2000 meters above sea level; the climate is pleasantly cool with reliable amounts of rain making it lush and perfect for tea growing. The tea here is grown on both estates and small-scale farms and is brought to one of the several factories in the area for processing. A striking feature of the area is the rugged escarpments dotted with dense indigenous forest. This is very pleasing to see since this area is an important water catchment area. The presence of indigenous forest around rivers and streams is encouraged by the standards of Rainforest Alliance as indigenous trees are less thirsty than foreign eucalyptus so therefore help to protect precious water supplies.

Lush tea fields bordered with indigenous forest

I have now moved to Mombasa, the second largest city in Kenya and home of the the tea auction which, each week, sells East African tea around the world. I have internet connection now – and lots to share with you – so keep your eyes peeled for more updates from me!

Suzy