African Tea
I’m writing a research paper about tea cultivation and culture in Africa for class. I thought it would be neat to write about since I don’t know all that much about African teas, and what better way to do hands-on research by trying some teas?
So for those who have drunk African teas, what do you recommend? I’m looking at Upton Tea samples. Also, does one drink these teas straight or with milk/sugar?
I recently found Majani Teas (http://www.majaniteas.com). The don’t have a ton of varieties, but they make more than just black tea, which is unusual for African teas! Definitely check out their site. I’ve really enjoyed the teas I’ve had from them.
Thanks! This site looks very nice. It certainly looks unusual, the selection.
And those birds looks so cute (>w<)
I adore the green, white and oolong. I have enough of the green and oolong if you want a sample, kiwi…let me know.
I would love to have sample, Kasumi.
I’m glad this company is so favorable. I’d really like to order from them.
Don’t honeybush and rooibos both originate from Africa? That might be a good place to start.
Whoops! I forgot to rule those out in the original post. Definitely had them before. I was thinking about black tea, since that’s what mostly processed.
Definitely try a Kenya Tinderet. It’s not necessary to add milk but it can handle it without really changing the flavor. I also tried the tea from Mozambique they have but it was waaaaay too strong for me and didn’t really taste like anything they said, it was almost like tobacco notes overtook everything.
What online store do you recommend? I saw your DavidsTea review. Based on the other reviews I’m not sure about buying it from them.
Yeah, I’d get Upton’s because you get enough to make roughly 5 cups for a dollar. Can’t beat that.
I’m buying samples of all of the African teas. For 10 dollars total. I haven’t even bought from them before and I’m loving them.
They are great! I love being able to try so much for the price. It’s a great way to try out new types of tea too, the samples got me hooked on Darjeelings.
Momo, do you know what tea from Mozambique it was? That is very interesting to me!
This one: http://uptontea.com/shopcart/catalog.asp?begin=0&categoryID=267
If I hadn’t already swapped what I had left, I would send it to you!
Thank you! Monte Branco, I had never heard of it, but it´s good to know several plantations are exporting.
I got another Mozambique tea, Namuli, and it was pretty different actually – very sweet, very tea-ey, delicate but strong somehow.
We have a number of Kenyan teas and also a Malawi tea. Here is some more info on some of the teas we have and we should be adding a few more Kenyan teas shortly. We’ve also added a little bit about Kenya and the area farms. http://www.butikiteas.com/Exploring%20Kenya.html
We have some African black teas: http://www.mahamosa.com/teabar/en/black-tea/african
1 tea is from Tanzania & 2 teas are from Kenya.
Of course, if the paper is about tea cultivation for a class, then the sad fact is that the quality teas others have mentioned are a tiny fraction of the tea produced in Kenya and Tanzania. The huge majority is black CTC tea for export.It’s the third major source of income in Kenya. http://www.teaboard.or.ke/ Most of it is sold to Pakistan, the UK and Egypt for blends in tea bags.
http://www.teauction.com/industry/kenyatea.asp
It’s unfortunate that not much is exported to the US, but it seems to me that the amount is increasing gradually. Thank you for providing the links. :]
@Kiwi, did you ever write your paper? Love to read or get an idea of your findings and conclusions.
ACK, I completely forgot about this thread. I went on to write about a personal essay because my professor wanted some sort story rather than something encyclopedia-like (if that makes sense). Sorry to disappoint ^^; That didn’t stop me from buying teas from various African countries. Still have unopened samples X_X
Add a Reply
Please keep things friendly and report anything inappropriate.