Ajiri Tea Company

Thank you KiwiDelight for this generous sample of Kenyan black tea.

I wasn’t expecting a CTC tea. I didn’t know they ever came in un-bagged form. I was surprised to receive a bag of what looked like ground coffee. I was hesitant to use my tea infuser as I wasn’t sure that the small bits would stay contained. I thought this a perfect opportunity to use my new fillable tea bags that I got from my local co-op (I got them to give away samples during a class presentation).

This is a good and bold black tea. A bit sweet and malty with a slight powdery texture. It’s certainly better than the CTC black teas I’ve had in the past. It might become an occasional visitor to my permanent stash.

I haven’t been visible on Steepster much over the past few weeks which is odd since most of you know that I love tea, and care about the people in this unique meeting place.

Spring brings dramatic changes to the weather! Thunder and lightning, late snow and the first warm days worthy of stripping off my sweater.

For me, these weather fluctuations are physically painful. The weather triggers migraines and fibromyalgia pain. Sleep is disturbed, my bones ache and through brain fog I have the hardest time making a decent cup of tea.

Today I was lucky!

I woke with usual painful bones at 4AM then fell asleep on the couch at 10:00. The weather had dipped from 67 degrees to 19 degrees in 13 hours. When I rose again, I didn’t have faith that I could make a decent cup of tea but I tried anyway.

Ajiri is strong tea! I’m fond of it in the morning with milk.

For days, I had been over-steeping, under-leafing, screwing up every tea I touched. It had been discouraging. I had gone to my tea-bar a couple of times just to have someone else fix tea for me.

I carefully measured the tea (which I seldom do anymore) into a 20oz pot and steeped 2 minutes (longer than the 1 recommended). Failure wasn’t an option anymore. This needed to be done right!

When I poured the first cup, the flavor was perfect! Strong, brisk and bready. I added evaporated milk and some sweetening to balance the richness.

Of course I’ll get through this physical slump, I’ve had this happen before…but I thought I should say something. You might know someone who goes through this too and could use a little understanding or help fixing a cup of tea.

A couple of people had noticed that I had been absent from Steepster. Writing thoughtful reviews when I’m not well and my bones ache isn’t fair to the tea. This situation will end soon enough.

About this Ajiri tea though…for anyone who isn’t a fan of malty tea’s but has been searching for a strong tea that isn’t bitter and stands up well to milk…this would be a good choice.

When I saw Ajiri’s booth at the Coffee and Tea Festival, I had to stop by, being curious about African teas. I talked to the older daughter of the family who owns the small farm and company. It was a relaxed, lovely and informative conversation: we talked about the company itself, about how they bought the farm and started their business, and about the tea they produce and African tea in general. Ajiri, Swahili for employment, hires Kenyan middle-aged/older woman, who hand-craft beautiful pictures of indigenous Kenyan scenery on the boxes and fashion strings with two colorful beads that tie the bags containing the tea.

I gladly bought a box of their loose leaf tea – a CTC black – which I sampled twice. The flavor was too unique to pass up, as was one of their boxes. The tea is distinctively African, and to my surprise, it’s not as bitter as other African black teas I’ve tried. It’s light-bodied, and the bitterness disappears after swallowing! The best part: I can appreciate a cup of this without milk and/or sugar! When I brewed some at home, I did so with an infuser in an 8 oz mug, rather than the Kenyan method given on the box. The color of the liquor is beautiful, a scarlet. Then, when there were only a few more sips left, golden sun.

If you’re looking to introduce yourself to African teas, this one might be good try!

UH OH! 00

I was cleaning the linen closet and smelled smoke. Following my super nose like a hound-dog, I went outside and there was a huge plume of smoke up where the big fires were last Summer that lasted a month.
It’s only MARCH!

Some people have been evacuated, but we’re hoping for the first rains to arrive tomorrow (without lightening).

The smell of smoke…ugh!

I needed to go out and meet my family for dinner, so I picked Ajiri to give me the jolt I needed to face the smoke and get moving.

This is that one tea you want when you have to study late at night or when you have to drive a long distance. It will keep you running.

I’m not affected by caffeine for very long. The deep straightforward black tea flavor is what really appeals to me.

I picked this up at the local co-op on the way home tonight with a few other things. I was only in there for the acidophilus (fancy live culture stuff to help with the Lyme). Then my husband came in and said “let’s look around”. Well that turned into a 40+ dollar trip. BUT we did find they have a large gluten free section and yummy teas (loose and boxed).

I recalled at World Tea East speaking with two lovely ladies from Ajiri Teas and them mentioning our local co-op sold their teas. So I asked to cut some time and three employees/owners showed me the way. It is a VERY popular tea there. :) I’d had it a year ago and enjoyed it so I picked up a box of the bagged tea.

I love the hand painted designs on the box. When I got home I loved that there were hand tied beads holding the inner bag closed. Very cool! Now on to the taste. To me it tastes rather mild like a few straight up Ceylons I’ve had. I notice also a hint of malty goodness to the tea too. I like it. Might need to add this to the must have list.

Like most of the rest of you, I was up late last evening watching CNN and the election results. No matter what you feel about the election results, I have to comment on something I saw on CNN.

Right on the CNN big board where all the names of the famous places in the World are listed, all the Cities like London, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Rome, Quito, Toronto was a word I love, FRONTRANGE! WooHoo! The word Frontrange (where I live) Colorado made the big board on CNN! (I just had to get that out!)

You may have noticed some other news about Colorado too. That’s going to be the source of some puns. I’ve already listed John Denver’s Rocky Mountain High on my Facebook and commented on ‘High Tea’. After all, I’m a child of the 60’s and I couldn’t resist the jokes!

Today I scooted off to Happy Lucky’s for strong tea. This one is a favorite. Very dark and gutsy without being malty at all.
I always add half & half and sometimes sugar because this is so robust. I bought an inky black chocolate bar and shared it with the smartly suited young man seated at the tea bar next to me. He had a ponytail like the young Sean Connery. (Bond, James Bond)

He had ordered a pot of Pu-erh.
The chocolate went well with both our tea orders.

Earlier, I shared a citrus mini tuo cha with Sam and told him to poke at it instead of letting it slowly dissolve over several steeps. I had him keep the steep time short (30 seconds).
This was a new method for Sam and he liked how the Pu-erh tasted.

Sam decided to try the same method with the second pot of Pu-erh for his customer. He poked the nuggets with a spoon to break it up, then poured fresh boiling water in the pot.
The young man had never tasted the full flavor of this Pu-erh before and liked it. He had only ever had the lighter first steeping, never the fully released Pu-erh.

Sharing what we learn here on Steepster is lots of fun. (I’m always learning from new people who know far more than I do… and from new experiences.)

I was out and about, running errands and stopped in at Happy Luckys to meet up with tea guru Eric (who works at Happy Lucky’s) to taste some Pu-erh that I received from a Steepster friend. That review will be on my blog in a few days and is remarkable!

When we finished our Puerh tasting, I still wanted some tea! Our little delicate cups of gentle Shu were wonderful but now it was time to pour the big lady serious tea and get down and dirty.

I was sitting at the bar.
I wanted a pot of Lucky Tea House’s finest black tea. Now.
Sam looked at Eric and said under his breath, “How about the Kenyan Ajiri?…no, no, it’s too strong…well…maybe she would like it, she likes strong tea. What do you think?”
“Hum, Eric laughed, maaaybe, OK.”

Then they turned to me.
“Let’s do it guys, I’m that kind of gal, wild and crazy! Set it up!” I said.

First, Sam brought me a tin of the super-small black leaves
(they looked more like poppy seeds) which smelled salty and savory.

Then, the wet leaves which were smaller than coffee grinds were presented with a very malty, rich aroma.

Last the dark brown liquor which was very strong tasting, and I liked it! It wasn’t smoky or malty but tasted solid and a bit fruity. I sipped for awhile.

I then added some cream (I was told the tea was too strong to drink plain but found it to be smooth enough for me).
After drinking a full mug of tea, I ordered a ginger cookie to eat along with my tea. The taste of these two together was out of this world! I’m a bit of a ginger cookie, black tea lover. An addiction as a treat!

A great piece of information!
100% of the profits from the tea sales of AJIRI goes to pay for uniforms and books for orphans in Western Kenya! What a great way to
enjoy tea and help others!

Check out www.ajirifoundation.com

Asante sana (thank you very much!) http://flic.kr/p/dphd5h

I underrated this a little at first. It is a pretty generic-tasting black tea, but it has a citrusey note to it that I appreciate.

This tea really reminds me of coffee, maybe because the curled leaves look kind of like coffee grounds. The aroma of the dry leaves is a bit coffee-like too. You have to be careful when steeping because Ajiri can go bitter pretty fast. With a short steep it tastes like a standard black tea with a slight citrus flavor. Recommended if you like a brisk and invigorating cup of tea. The boxes for this tea are awesome! Each one is a unique piece of art.

No notes yet.

This is a tasty but basic black tea, with a great cause. The leaves are tiny, dark, and pellet-like. Not what I was expecting, but I didn’t want to judge on just the leaf appearance alone. The leaves have a lovely sweet cocoa scent.

After steeping, the liquor tastes of whole wheat toast, and dark chocolate. It is a strong brew that is very basic, perfect for the morning and would hold up well to milk and sugar. It’s an easy tea to over-steep, so be very careful A teaspoon for each cup is more than enough, and watch that you don’t steep for more than 3 minutes. Not the best black tea I’ve ever had, but good, and the proceeds go to a good cause!!

No notes yet.

This tea is raised by small farmers, processed in a farmer owned factory and sold in boxes made by women in the area in western Kenya. The profits go to support education for orphaned children. This tea is a good plain strightforward black. It is quite fresh and tasty – be careful not to overbrew as it is probably fannings grade. I really liked it.