STiR coffee and tea magazine

42 STiR coffee and tea / Issue 3, 2018 (June / July) By Shem Oirere I t is the emerging specialty tea segment and licensing of cottage factories to pro- duce purple tea that has demonstrated Kenya's potential to transform itself from a volume producer into a country regarded for high quality and competitively priced specialty tea. Specialty tea varieties for export earned a 30% premium in in 2017, motivating smaller tea producers to make use of modern technology to link their farms directly to tea buyers and drinkers. Purple tea sells for ten times that for green tea: around $30 a kilo as against the early 2018 average of under $3. Tumoi Teas, located in the Nandi Hills of Kenya's Rift Valley, is one of the very first cottage factories licensed to produce artisanal teas. The company is betting that the growing demand for healthy, high-quality specialty tea will enable it to establish itself globally as a small specialty tea enterprise. General manager Boaz Katah dreams of one day becoming a reference point in Africa's expanding tea story. Kenya averages 1,500 meters in elevation across a range from sea level to 3,500 meters, making it one of the best locations in Africa for growing tea. The country has developed more than 50 different tea varieties suited for cultivation in seven tea grow- ing regions. Last year Kenya produced about 10 metric tons of purple tea, the most promising of the new varietals. Tumoi processes an average of 200 kilos a day with the support of 15 staff and 200 casuals who help with plucking, pan-firing, rolling, and drying during the peak season. "The story of Tumoi Teas is an emerging example that to be top of the tea produc- tion league is not all about the size of the farm, equipment or machinery but being the very best in what you do," says Tumoi Teas general manager Boaz Katah. Tumoi Teas is a story driven by persistence, optimism, and by keeping an eye on the prize that lies beyond the challenges posed by the licensing bureaucracy, limited access to financing and a pessimistic market that characterizes Kenya's tea industry. Tumoi emerged from the ruins of a previous collapsed tea processing investment that Boaz wants to forget forever, but which he admits emboldened him more "be- cause I realized early in life that tea is the place to be and I was convinced there was potential to do it differently and in a better way." Boaz was born into a tea growing family. His father, Jacob Katah, worked for East- ern Produce for more than four decades. Eastern is part of the Camellia Group of tea suppliers with interests in Malawi and South Africa. Dreaming Big Smallholders on tea farms around the world are learning the power of marketing artisan teas direct from origin Tumoi Teas specialty varieties includ- ing purple, black, green, white, yellow, and oolong tea. Farmers pick tea at one of the farms that supply Tumoi Teas cottage factory Purple leaf tea in the cup

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