Hi guys my name is Christine I'm in the tea industry here in sunny Mombasa but also an avid tea drinker!
Just want to ask what people love / don't love about Kenyan tea (without mentioning any brands) I'm new on this chat forum so not sure whether this is allowed.
Asante sana.
Re: What do you guys think about Kenyan Tea?
Hi Christine.
Feel free to discuss other brands and teas at will. We'll just monitor to make sure the posts do not become advertisements for other companies, and please refrain from posting links. Chat on!
Feel free to discuss other brands and teas at will. We'll just monitor to make sure the posts do not become advertisements for other companies, and please refrain from posting links. Chat on!
buykenyantea.com wrote: Hi guys my name is Christine I'm in the tea industry here in sunny Mombasa but also an avid tea drinker!
Just want to ask what people love / don't love about Kenyan tea (without mentioning any brands) I'm new on this chat forum so not sure whether this is allowed.
Asante sana.
Re: What do you guys think about Kenyan Tea?
I don't know anything about Kenyan tea because I never see tea sold as "Kenyan tea." I'm sure I had have Kenyan tea but probably in a blend. By the way, I once visited Kenya, and spent overnight in Mombassa and was able to get my feet wet in the Indian Ocean!
Re: What do you guys think about Kenyan Tea?
Usually not better or worse than any other generic Assam tea. I think it is not so easy to create the same level of expertise in growing tea in a few decades as opposed to regions where tea has been grown for centuries and the collective knowledge is much bigger.
Re: What do you guys think about Kenyan Tea?
I've had some pleasant Kenyan and Tanzanian black teas, but there wasn't much to distinguish them from other Assams in my judgment. I wouldn't avoid a tea because it was Kenyan but if you asked me what qualities separated East African teas from Indian teas, I wouldn't know what to tell you--except that good-quality Kenyan Assams are sometimes better value than equivalent teas from Assam or Yunnan.
My favorite African tea, one I would buy again, is actually from over the border in Mozambique; it's called "African Antlers" (I got mine from Harney & Sons, don't know if it's also sold elsewhere). It's made from stems and buds instead of leaves, like Japanese twig tea, but it's a white instead of a green or wulong. It has a distinct look in the pot and a distinct flavor, different from other white teas.
We know Kenya has the climate and cuture to produce good mass-market pekoe. At the high end, I would like to see more east African craft teamakers experimenting to see what they can produce that's unique to their terroir, what they can bring to the table that isn't already available in India.
Here's a question for you: how do Kenyans and other East Africans take their tea? What do the people who work in the local industry drink? In wine, that's often how new markets mature: mass-market wine for export, and local wine made to local tastes that goes global as the local industry matures (see oversized California wines, or Australian Shiraz).
My favorite African tea, one I would buy again, is actually from over the border in Mozambique; it's called "African Antlers" (I got mine from Harney & Sons, don't know if it's also sold elsewhere). It's made from stems and buds instead of leaves, like Japanese twig tea, but it's a white instead of a green or wulong. It has a distinct look in the pot and a distinct flavor, different from other white teas.
We know Kenya has the climate and cuture to produce good mass-market pekoe. At the high end, I would like to see more east African craft teamakers experimenting to see what they can produce that's unique to their terroir, what they can bring to the table that isn't already available in India.
Here's a question for you: how do Kenyans and other East Africans take their tea? What do the people who work in the local industry drink? In wine, that's often how new markets mature: mass-market wine for export, and local wine made to local tastes that goes global as the local industry matures (see oversized California wines, or Australian Shiraz).
Re: What do you guys think about Kenyan Tea?
I spent the majority of 2015 living in Nairobi and traveling around East Africa. I personally thought people were moving more towards Kenyan/East African coffee than tea.
The majority of Kenyan brands I tried had a very strong bitter astringent flavor which I personally do not favor as it overpowers any other notes you might pick up. But my Wife really enjoyed the local tea because she drinks the traditional Chai (black tea + milk) served throughout India and Pakistan. The milk dulls the bitter edge and you can taste some of the other floral notes.
I know as a fact that most of the tea that is used for the purpose of Chai is imported from Kenya because of its rich color, fragrance and flavor that comes through when mixed with milk. I did purchase some tea from Kigali and Entebbe as well which I enjoyed more than the Kenyan teas.
I do enjoy black tea with a hint of lemon, so the tea I picked up from Kigali was lemon flavored and it reminded me of all the notes and flavors of a good Ceylon black tea and the lemon flavor was not artificial so that was a pleasant surprise. The tea I picked up in Entebbe had lemon grass in it, the tea itself was nice and fruity but the aroma of the lemon grass was over powering at times.
Some of the more memorable black teas I have had was a loose leaf Ceylon black tea that was sent as a sample to someone I know. It came in a small wooden box and I was never able to find that brand again and when I searched on the inter webs I found that a lot of Ceylon tea brands use wooden boxes as their retail packaging.
Back in 2010 I spent some time in Dhaka and found Bangladeshi black tea from the Sylhet region to be quite good. Again to me it represented something close to the Ceylon black teas I enjoy drinking.
ZK
The majority of Kenyan brands I tried had a very strong bitter astringent flavor which I personally do not favor as it overpowers any other notes you might pick up. But my Wife really enjoyed the local tea because she drinks the traditional Chai (black tea + milk) served throughout India and Pakistan. The milk dulls the bitter edge and you can taste some of the other floral notes.
I know as a fact that most of the tea that is used for the purpose of Chai is imported from Kenya because of its rich color, fragrance and flavor that comes through when mixed with milk. I did purchase some tea from Kigali and Entebbe as well which I enjoyed more than the Kenyan teas.
I do enjoy black tea with a hint of lemon, so the tea I picked up from Kigali was lemon flavored and it reminded me of all the notes and flavors of a good Ceylon black tea and the lemon flavor was not artificial so that was a pleasant surprise. The tea I picked up in Entebbe had lemon grass in it, the tea itself was nice and fruity but the aroma of the lemon grass was over powering at times.
Some of the more memorable black teas I have had was a loose leaf Ceylon black tea that was sent as a sample to someone I know. It came in a small wooden box and I was never able to find that brand again and when I searched on the inter webs I found that a lot of Ceylon tea brands use wooden boxes as their retail packaging.
Back in 2010 I spent some time in Dhaka and found Bangladeshi black tea from the Sylhet region to be quite good. Again to me it represented something close to the Ceylon black teas I enjoy drinking.
ZK
Re: What do you guys think about Kenyan Tea?
I believe that good teas will come from countries in which the locals also drink tea. Not sure, if that's the case for Kenyan tea?