African Tea
February 20, 2012 | 
Author I read a very informative book recently about the history of tea from a British perspective: “Tea, Addiction, Exploitation and Empire” by Roy Moxham (Carroll & Graf, New York, 2003). This book is full of surprising facts. Did you know, for example, that tea was fashionable in Portugal, Holland, and France before it caught on in England? Or that Sri Lanka is a tea producer because of a fungus that ruined their coffee crops? Or that the history of tea is about as nasty as it got in the British Empire?
The book begins with an account of how Moxham, as a young man, landed a job running a tea plantation in present day Malawi in East Africa, and the book ends with an account of his year there. In between, we go predominantly to China, India, and Sri Lanka as Moxham tells the often gruesome tale of the history of tea in the British Empire. Moxham is not the most colorful of writers, but the book is obviously well researched, and once I’d picked it up, I found it hard to put down. I don’t find that the old block prints, photographs, and drawings add much to the book, but I do like the maps in the front of the book that show tea plantation locations in Malawi, China, and India.
It may come as a bit of a surprise that the violent history of tea in the Empire is still playing itself out, with sporadic strikes and violence continuing 
to this day throughout Sri Lanka and India, especially in Assam. And then there’s the Sri Lankan civil war where the descendents of Tamils imported from India to work the tea plantations still feel discriminated against by the Sinhalese.
Roland at Tea & Treasure
Posted in African Tea, Assam, Book Reviews, Chinese Tea, English Tea, History of Tea, Indian Tea, Sri Lankan Tea | 
Tags: Assam, British Empire, Ceylon, history of tea, history of tea plantations, Tea Book Review | 
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This decaf sweet coconut Thai chai is an interesting and tasty tea from Celestial Seasonings. They call it “RED TEA with Exotic Spices”, and it is indeed based on rooibos, the red tea from South Africa, but it also contains decaffeinated black tea and roasted chicory. The masala spices are ginger, clove, cardamom, nutmeg, paprika, black pepper, and star anise. The paprika was a bit of a surprise, but I’m thinking that it might be there more for color than for flavor. Natural coconut flavor and other natural flavors are also in there. For me, the spice mix was just a touch heavy on the clove, and I wouldn’t have guessed that coconut had anything at all to do with this tea. The whole red Thai thing seems to be an attempt at creating a decaf version of sweet Thai tea that has masala spices added to it. Whereas Thai tea is black tea with coloring added, the color here is all natural. While brewing, the tea looks like a bit of a cloudy mess, but once the cream is added the color shines through.
I don’t normally carry Celestial Seasonings as they’re so commonly available in supermarkets, but this one intrigued me. While I’m a bit disappointed with the coconut, this is a very acceptable tea bag version of masala chai and it contains no caffeine.
Since I wrote the above, more than one customer has come into my store, tried the Sweet Coconut Thai, and commented on the wonderful coconut flavor!
Roland at Tea & Treasure
Decaf Thai Chai
Posted in African Tea, Chai, Thai Tea, Uncategorized | Tags: Celestial Seasonings, chai, decaf tea, rooibos chai, spicy tea, Thai chai | No Comments »
The Ntingwe Tea Estate was established in South Africa’s province of KwaZulu-Natal in 1987. It is located in the Melmoth area, known as the gateway to the Zulu Highlands. KwaZulu tea is considered lighter than teas grown in East Africa.
In 2007 the KwaZulu-Natal premier visited a tea production facility in Shizuoka, Japan. He was interested in Japanese help to improve KwaZulu’s tea standards. At the same time, the production of green tea in KwaZulu was discussed. That same year “Green Green” was slated to be launched, a product pairing green South African rooibos with Japanese green tea.
In the 1990s British tea merchants Taylors of Harrogate discovered Ntingwe, and they have supported the estate ever since. Taylors claims that Ntingwe black tea “has a fresh, brisk flavour, and a bright liquor.” When I taste tested Taylors Ntingwe KwaZulu Leaf Tea, I found a nice color, slightly less fiery than Turkish tea, and a mild taste for a broken leaf tea but not without a bite. Like Turkish tea, I enjoyed it with sugar but would hesitate to add milk or cream.
Roland Petrov
When thinking of tea producing nations, China, India, and Sri Lanka immediately come to mind; also Japan and possibly even Kenya.
But Malawi?
Where in the world is Malawi even located?
I grew up partly in Ethiopia and I excelled in geography, so I happen to know that Malawi is a long skinny country located on the shores of Africa’s third largest lake, Lake Malawi, in the southeastern part of the continent.
What I didn’t know until recently is that Malawi is the second largest producer of tea in Africa behind Kenya. Tea is grown in the southern part of the country like so many other places where tea is grown: on scenic hillsides.
Malawian tea is usually blended with other teas and appears on labels as African tea (meaning we don’t know how much of it actually is from Malawi and what percentage of it might be Kenyan).
There is a threat to the Malawian tea industry, and it isn’t just the erratic weather in that part of the world; the biggest threat to the Malawian tea industry is AIDS. Apparently it’s hard to find workers who are healthy.
Tea plantations began in Malawi in the 1800′s, and today tea is Malawi’s second largest export after tobacco. As tobacco usage around the world declines and tea consumption increases, my hope is that Malawi can overcome its difficulties and that tea will continue to contribute significantly to the Malawian economy.
Maybe one day I’ll have a Malawian section in my tea store.
Roland Petrov
When I was fourteen, and living in Ethiopia, I went on an overnight camping trip with some Ethiopian classmates. We walked for hours up into the hills and into a rain forest.
I remember that towards evening my classmates bought a goat from a goat herder in the pasture where we were camping out, butchered it, and roasted it over a fire.
After eating, a pot was produced from somewhere, filled with water from a nearby stream, and placed directly on the glowing coals of what had been our fire. When the water was hot, tea leaves that one of my classmates had brought along were thrown into the pot along with some sugar.
The tea was brought to a boil (and maybe even simmered for a while, I don’t remember exactly now) before being scooped into mugs and handed around. It was all so wrong and yet to this day I remember the wonderful aroma and the bittersweet satisfying taste of that Ethiopian tea.
Roland Petrov