Manufacturing Tea At Williamson Tea

The taste of the cup of Williamson Tea you drink is influenced by the environment at our Kenyan farms:

1. The soil has to be acidic and our bright red volcanic earth is ideal
2. There needs to be a great deal of rain, at least 60 inches per annum, but also alot of sunshine to stimulate growth.
3. As our farms are on the steamy Equator we benefit from an altitude of over 5,000 ft to ensure hot days and cold nights for perfect growing conditions.

The perfect location for manufacturing tea

Viable tea production extends as far as latitudes 49 degrees North and latitude 39 degrees South and at altitudes ranging from sea level to about 2700m above sea level. These large variations in climatic and/or environmental conditions cause immense variations in chemical compositions and hence quality. Studies have shown that the optimum tea quality is obtained from tea grown between altitude 1500 and 2600m above mean sea level.

Tinderet tea estate is at an altitude of 2130m above sea level and the growing conditions here are such that the tea leaves have reasonable balance of polyphenols (compounds responsible for quality) throughout the year. The altitude causes slow growth which ensures full development of the compounds.

The tea manufacturing process

Tea manufacture, which can be described as the process of converting the green, plucked tea leaves (young shoot of two soft leaves and a bud) into final saleabe product of black tea, occurs in stages. The stages involves both physical and chemical changes.

The tea you drink is carefully taken from our plants and transformed into the tea that you drink. Click these links to see the production process for yourself.