I visited one of the tea growing regions of Kenya, recently.
It was located about two hours north of Nairobi, past Thika and near the start
of the lush Aberdare Mountain range. The tea plants grow on steep hillsides at elevations
that are over 2,000 meters above sea level. The leaves are shiny and emerald
green. When it’s sunny, the fields practically sparkle.
Kenya, it turns out, is one of the world’s leading tea
producers, just behind China, India, and Sri Lanka. Who knew? I didn’t. But
then, I’m more of a coffee drinker.
Like a lot of other people, prior to coming to Kenya, the
images I had involved golden savannahs populated with zebra, wildebeests, and
gazelles hotly pursued by lions and cheetahs.
But Kenya is really quite diverse geographically. Yes, there
are deserts in the north, savannahs in the south, and the Great Rift Valley in
the center. But there are also lush, green forests with moss-strewn trees and
giant ferns straight out of Jurassic Park. There are volcanic peaks, mangrove swamps,
and long white beaches. There are steep hills covered with patchworks of crops
such as beans, potatoes, maize, coffee – and tea.
My outing consisted of a group of 5 Kenyans, 4 Mexicans, and
2 Italians. There was also a Dane, a Portuguese, his Brazilian girlfriend, and
me. (Britt was nursing a sore heel and couldn’t join us.) Our lack of
familiarity with tea production united us – as did our pleasure at enjoying the
great Kenyan outdoors.
We learned about tea planting and picking. We discovered
that though the plants look like thick bushes, they are actually trees that are
kept trimmed to waist height. They are vegetatively propagated (like potatoes
and sweetpotatoes), meaning they are grown from plant cuttings and not from
seeds. They thrive in the Kenyan highlands, naturally resisting most pests and
disease – at least for the time being (climate change notwithstanding).
We tried our hand at picking tea leaves. Though the plants
are thick with them, you are just supposed to gather the top two. And this,
while balancing an awkwardly round basket on your back and making your way
through the dense branches and steep incline, is harder than it looks.
Professional pickers fill numerous baskets each day, working from 6 am to 6 pm
for a pay of about $5 a day. That doesn’t sound like much, but is considerably
more than the $1.5/day poverty rate.
We drank cups of hot tea and visited a tea factory, watching
the steps as the green leaves were pulverized, dried, and turned into the stuff
you buy at the store.
By the end of the process, workers were heaving 75 kg bags of
tea onto trucks for destinations worldwide. Where they might end up ultimately,
I don’t know. But I can tell you the journey begins on hilly, windy dirt roads
filled with the gigantic ruts and potholes that you find all over Kenya –
especially during the rainy seasons (Apr-Jun, Oct-Nov).
It is amazing to see where tea originates and to think of
all the forms and meanings it engenders. There’s high tea, tea ceremony, tea
parties (some charming, some not) and tea for the tillerman. Tea is equated
with philosophy and religion, with comfort and quenched thirst. It comes up in
politics and even in poetry.
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of toast and tea
T.S. Eliot
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