Come and Test the Flavour of Uganda Tea

Ever known the secret of Uganda tea? Have you ever wondered where the tea you enjoy comes from?

How it is grown? Where it is grown? What processes it goes through before it gets into your kettle or cup? Well if you are still in wonder, come with us and we will simply show you what it takes for the Ugandan tea to come to your table.

This site will also give you hints on how to engage tea business and hot to buy Uganda tea

Legend has it that tea originated well over 5000 years ago in ancient China. The innovative and science-curious Emporer Shen Nung insisted that for hygiene purposes, all water in the palace must be boiled.

Ugandan Tea is the best in Africa.” The more you know, the better it gets”...

History of Tea

When he was out visiting his kingdom one day, him and his men stopped to boil water to drink and it was said that leaves from a nearby bush fell into the water. Apparently the brew that resulted was so refreshing, the Emporer ordered samples of the bush to be brought back to the palace for analysis. Afterwards, word got out and this new phenomenon became fashionable.

Below are the main steps undertaken in the production of Uganda tea.

Step 1: Nursery bed.

Uganda Tea bushes are planted - from 1 metre to 1.5 metres apart - to follow the natural contours of the landscape, sometimes growing on specially prepared terraces to help irrigation and to prevent erosion. Young plants are raised from cuttings obtained from a mother bush and they are carefully tendered in special nursery beds until 12 - 15 months old. They are then planted out in the tea fields. The mother bush is a strong, rich plant carefully selected for propagation.

Step 2: Leaf Plucking

Tea is grown in the field but must be made in a factory. This is because unlike most herbals that only need to be dried, commercial tea must be “processed”.It all begins in one of the small holder tea farms where the tea grows. All tea is harvested manually; plucking the top two leaves and the bud (also referred to as fine plucking).

Each pluck takes only the flush - 'two leaves and a bud' of tender and succulent fresh growth. Within a week to ten days the bushes grow new shoots. This skilled job is carried out by picking the shoots, breaking them off by twisting the leaves and bud in the fingers, and deftly throwing handfuls of shoots into the carrier baskets resting on their backs. The baskets are so designed that they permit aeration of the leaf to prevent heat generation.

The high standard of fine plucking is the first step towards superior quality tea manufacture. The interval between plucking and delivery is kept as short as possible.

As the aphorism goes, 'manufacture starts in the field'. Great care is taken when transporting green leaf to the factory. This is achieved by the use of specially designed leaf carriers that permit air circulation and thus prevent any heat build-up that would affect the quality of the teas produced.

Step 5: Fermentation.

Fermentation or oxidization is the most important stage in the manufacture of black tea, and this process makes it uniquely different from all other teas. Fermentation is carried out in custom-designed fermentation rooms.Depending on the temperature, maceration technique and the style of tea desired, the fermentation time range from 45 minutes to 3 hours. The characteristic coppery color and fermented tea aroma judge the completion of fermenting.

Step 6: Drying

This is the process that stops fermentation and introduces a stable product of low moisture content between 3.0 to 3.3% that can be shipped and stored.It involves the physical removal of moisture and it’s a crucial process as it seals in all the flavour, aroma and character created during manufacture, that is released by brewing. Drying can therefore make a difference between a mediocre tea and a superb tea even though they may come from the same factory.

After drying the teas are then sorted into the four primary grades and three secondary grades. The sortation is by size and fibre content. The dry tea is exposed to static electricity-charged PVC rollers that pickup the fibres and the open leaf.The thus separated teas are thereafter sorted by size, and packed.

Step 7: Tasting

style="font-size: medium;">During tasting, samples of tea are collected hourly from each grade and also the drier mouth teas and infused for five minutes in different cups. The liquor is the poured to different bowls.The taster then evaluates the tea for quality and manufacturing faults by sucking and atomising the liquid into his mouth and allowing it to linger there long enough for the flavour and character to be appreciated.

He then spits it out or sometimes, swallows it. The infused leaves and the dry leaves are also inspected. The taster assesses the flavour, smell, colour etc of the infused leaf and the uniformity of size, fibre content and trueness of grade for the dry leaves. The main purpose of tasting Uganda tea is to ensure continuous manufacture of high quality tea by detecting any faults in processing and taking timely remedial action.

Step 8: Marketing

This involves dispatch, selling and shipping of the tea. All teas from the two factories are sold in bulk in three markets namely: The local/Ugandan market, Contract Market through the Mombasa Auction. All Uganda tea inquiries are handled by the Marketing Office which is based at the UTDAL headquarters in Kampala.Internationally Tea sales are subject to approval of Sample (S.A.S), either sent directly from Kampala or via the broker. All finance and trading transactions are carried through Stanbic bank, whose details appear in every invoice sent to the buyer. In auction markets, the selling broker announces the line of tea on sale, and invites bids in US Dollars per kilogramme. The buyers announce their bids, which advances by at least one US cent per kg. The tea is knocked to the highest bidder, and the next lot is offered for sale.

From the efficient ports in Kenya, the teas are shipped to various tea consuming countries from where it is blended and packed into various brands.

QUALITY :

As can be seen, Uganda tea being of very high quality goes through rigorous procedures to ensure that our consumers get the best of the best

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