Kosabei Plantation Kenya Green Tea

• Country of Origin: Africa
• Region: Nandi
• Shipping Port: DMombassa
• Grade: Dryer Mouth
• Altitude: 6000’ – 7000’ ft. above sea level
• Manufacturer Type: Rotovane + CTC
• Cup Characteristics: An awesome tea! Full green tea notes with all the seasonal taste that has made Kenya the Tuscany of tea. Superbly fresh - like drinking tea on the estate
• Infusions: Very greenish tending yellow
• Ingredients: Luxury Kenya green tea

The smells of an African tea plantation are something you never forget. They are, to put it plainly, exceptionally natural. The air is heavy and hot. The aromas of fresh cuttings, irrigation and the natural spice of the sweet African earth greet you as your jeep approaches the gates. Interwoven are periodic waves of floral scent breezing in through the windows as the wind carries the pollen of thousands of flowers and plants that grow in and around the gardens. You exit the jeep at the factory, step through the front doors and immediately your nose fills with notes of honey, sweet malt, damp green moss and the brisk aroma of fresh leaf sap hanging in the air. Walking past the dryers the air takes on a distinctly bakey, wheat-like smell as tea is dried and spun. On most buying trips the ultimate destination is the tasting room and it is here that all the aromas you’ve just experienced will come together the way a thousand brush strokes fill in a great work of art.

Tasting tables on tea plantations tend to be long. It is not uncommon for buyers and tasters to be presented with 30 to 50 cups of tea at a time. As the kettles come to a boil and each tea is infused, the aromas of the cups fill the room to tell the stories that will be read by the taste buds of the buyers: the time of day at which they were plucked, the estate section and bush variety the leaf was selected from, elevation, moisture content, the various temperatures at which they were dried, ambient humidity levels at time of production and grade. Is this cup from the section that borders the neighboring free hold eucalyptus plantation? Or the section farther up toward the jungle? These are the questions that will be answered by the aromas and flavors emanating from the cups. The complete experience is one that never leaves you.

A pot of Kosabei Plantation Kenya Green Natural Dryer Mouth offers an experience as close to an actual plantation visit as you can get without boarding the Cessna out of Mombassa. Dryer Mouth green, a recent development in Kenyan tea is pulled from production half way through the CTC (Cut Tear and Curl) process and immediately fired, halting fermentation. The resulting cup unlocks volumes about the history of African tea, the quality of Kenyan production and the lush majesty of the estates on which it is produced. A magnificent green tea.

Note: Kosabei Plantation is a sub-section of Tinderet estate and is certified by Fair Trade and the Ethical Tea Partnership, ETP.