Ajiri Tea from Kenya

I learned of this tea from Marlena's blog, love the package of this tea, and love the idea of using tea income to support orphans.  

I always like Kenya black tea. I think it has a very refreshing floral aroma when brewed in moderate concentration in a topless vessel. Besides, I believe Kenya tea has a potential to be better than its current average level. Like some lowest grades of Chinese tea, much of Kenya tea is sold for relatively low price in the international market. It seems the world market just demands a lot of cheap tea, and large companies like mass production of cheap tea. But theoretically the landscape elevation and rich soil of Kenya should enable growth of some expensive tea, I believe.

It's quite similar to other CTC Kenya black tea I had before, while it's much more expensive. But even then, the tea is still quite affordable. It tastes very good, and it's not as expensive as some products sold by large companies that spent lots of money on marketing and printing elegant brochures. Sure the mark-up on this tea is higher than some other Kenya black tea. But the you know the extra markup goes to places that make you feel comfortable, such as supporting orphan education, creating employment for women and funding community based tea facilities. According to Ajiritea.com, Ajiri black tea is produced at a Rainforest Alliance Certified™ tea factory, owned by over 10,000 small-scale farmers. As far as I know, Kenya is one of the tea production regions dominated by industrialized mass production of large companies. Therefore, I believe the idea behind Ajiri tea is invaluable.

Besides, the package of this tea is so cool! This award-winning package is very lovely and very African. According to Ajiritea.com, each unique label is handmade using dried banana leaves and package materials are environmental friendly. I know this lovely tea box will sit on my desk for a long time!