This archive report was first published on 9 May 2020.
Published on May 9, 2020, by Carol Mutua, a renowned author.
Kenya is the largest tea-producing country in Africa, and its tea industry is a significant contributor to the country's economy. Tea is the third-largest foreign exchange earner, behind tourism and horticulture, and employs about four million people.
However, the majority of Kenya's tea is produced and exported as black tea, which is often blended with low-quality teas from other countries. This has led to farmers earning less than they could.
Enter purple tea, a game-changer for farmers. Developed by the Kenya Tea Research Institute in 2011, purple tea has purple leaves rich in anthocyanin, which has numerous health benefits.
Purple tea grows well in the highlands at an altitude of 1,500-2,500m above sea level and is resistant to drought, frost, pests, and diseases. It is also high-yielding, with yields 10 times higher than those of processed green tea.
According to the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (Kippra), Kenya exports about 60 tonnes of purple tea to Japan, China, North America, and Europe. The main export market is Japan, with others including the US, Germany, and China.
Despite the reduction in the price of ordinary tea, the price of purple tea is increasing. In the local market, a kilo of purple tea sells for Sh2,600, which is 10 times higher than green tea that sells for an average of Sh200.
However, the production of purple tea in Kenya is low due to several challenges. Only a few farmers are involved, and most do not want to adopt purple tea production because of the lack of income when they uproot their black tea bushes and establish the purple ones, which take three years to mature.
Additionally, purple tea requires specialized plant equipment and technical know-how. Marketing may also be a challenge, as most people only know black tea.
Despite these challenges, purple tea has a lot of health benefits, including reducing hypertension and cardiac failure, aiding in weight loss, having anti-ageing properties, low caffeine, preventing hair loss, evening out skin tone, and having anticancer, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory properties.
There is a need for aggressive marketing of purple tea to increase awareness and lead to a rise in consumption to boost demand and motivate more farmers to grow it.
