Horera Tea Company founder Robert Murimi picks Purple tea at his farm in Ragati, Mathira West within Nyeri County, August 12, 2019. [Mose Sammy, Standard]

When the Tea Research Institute announced in 2009 that it had developed a purple variety of tea, which could fetch as much as Sh2,000 per kilo, it was music to the ears of farmers.

The farmers had for years owned old clones, which fetch as low as Sh200 a kilo.

Dickson Kerich from Ngainet village in Bureti Constituency in 2015 bought 13,000 seedlings of purple tea from the research institute.

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As the farmer returned home to plant the new variety in three acres of his land, his dream was that once the tea bushes matured, he would pluck his way to riches.

“I was impressed upon to plant the tea by the claims that I could get at least Sh100 per kilogramme of the purple tea and, besides that, it’s medicinal,” says Kerich.

But since he started harvesting the tea, the farmer has not earned anything beyond Sh18 per kilo for the about 800kg he plucks per month.

“I supply the tea to a Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA)-owned tea factory where it is processed just like and alongside the ordinary green tea leaves,” says Kerich.



Worse still, the farmer spends more bags of fertiliser on the three acres of land under purple tea than the 2.4 acres under ordinary tea bushes.

“I use 20 more bags of 50 kilogramme of fertiliser on the land under purple tea and 10 bags less on ordinary tea,” he says.

Kerich says without applying the huge amount of fertiliser on purple tea, the leaves lose weight and become stiff, making them hard to pluck.

“It also requires constant weeding than the other clones of tea,” he says.

Henrik Ruto from Kabianga in Belgut Constituency, who has an acre of purple tea, says lack of a factory to process the tea in Kericho forces him to take it all the way to Nandi County.



“The factory buys purple tea at Sh40-50,” says Ruto.

Even then, a purple tea farmer is constantly anxious since the tea has to be delivered for processing in record time.

“Purple tea must be delivered to the factory for processing under two hours. If it exceeds that time, it goes bad,” says Ruto, who markets his purple tea under Sir Henriks trade name.

Nonetheless, he says he still banks on the variety of tea since a kilogramme of processed tea fetches him Sh2,500.

“The tea bags are loved by consumers who want to consume the tea in offices. It saves one from the hustle of sieving the tea and they just use hot water from dispensers,” says Ruto.

Drought resistant

“The good thing about the tea is it is taken without sugar and milk. This increases its potency. Fresh lemon is squeezed into it to enhance flavour and colour. Natural sweeteners such as stevia and honey can also be used to enhance the taste.”

According to reports, purple tea bush should yield 1.7kg to 1.8kg per year under good agricultural practices and maintenance.

This tea is also drought resistant, but the purple colour diminishes during the dry season, making it look like ordinary green tea and is best harvested during the cold rainy seasons.

However, Ruto says processing the tea during the wet season is a challenge. “Withering takes time during wet seasons and thus a lot of power is required to drive hot air fans, which require a lot of electricity and this leads to an increase in the cost of production,” he says.

The farmer says the main challenge he faced with his start-up business was acquiring a licence for the cottage factory.

“The regulator has stringent regulations. Rules governing Kenya’s tea industry have blocked me from processing the tea. The regulator insists that I should have 20 hectares of mature tea bushes for me to get this licence. That has put my investment on hold in the meantime as I look for ways about it,” says Ruto.

Kim Martins, the director of Chesumot Farm, which has 100 acres of land under purple tea, says they have acquired a licence to construct a purple tea processing factory.

“The quantity of our purple tea is enough to establish a factory. We also met all the other criteria required by the Kenya Tea Directorate before getting the licence,” he says.

Martins says despite the gloom currently surrounding purple tea, farmers should not despair.

“Though I sell most of the purple tea as ordinary black tea, I sell a small percentage to a cottage industry in Nandi and get Sh55 per kilo, which to me is still a premium price,” he says.

But despite the prevailing situation around the purple tea, Kenya Tea Packers (Ketepa) Managing Director Albert Otochi said the variety is among the teas they have embraced away from the household brands, Fahari Ya Kenya, Ketepa Pride and Safari Pure, which come in tea bags and loose tea formats.

“Purple Tea is rich in anthocyanin (a flavanoid), the plant itself has a red-purple colour but the tea comes out with a slightly purple hue. That regal colour is as a result of high levels of anthocyanins, which have many anti-in-inflammatory and anti-viral-benefits,” he says.

Otochi says they are now targeting the youth. “The group is a sophisticated consumer and therefore require tea they can relate with,” he says.