Kenya tea

32 Kenya teas from 9 independent UK tea merchants, from £2.40.

Kenya is the world’s largest tea exporter and the quiet workhorse behind most UK teabags. The bulk is CTC (crush-tear-curl) black tea grown at altitude around the Rift Valley — brisk, bright, coppery and strong, ideal for a robust builder’s brew that takes milk well. But Kenya is climbing the quality ladder fast: a growing number of estates now produce orthodox whole-leaf black, purple tea (from an anthocyanin-rich cultivar) and even greens and whites. Sitting on the equator, it harvests year-round. For UK buyers, Kenyan orthodox and purple teas from independent merchants offer real character and value — a chance to taste beyond the anonymous blend the country usually disappears into.