Ambapo ni mzima?- Where is it grown?

This post is geared towards answering the questions of where the teas are grown and by whom. Red Rose sources its teas from a variety of areas, including Kenya, Sri Lanka, outhern India and Indonesia. It has been noted that tea leaves grown in higher altitudes have been found to be richer in flavour and more plentiful, hence many of the tea garden estates from which Red Rose source their teas are in these types of areas.

The Kenya Arroket tea estate is an example of this as it is established 6000 feet in altitude, west of the Great Rift valley, and is very close to the equator. This allows for the production of a full-bodied aromatic tea that is highly prized.

Another area where Red Rose selects their tea is from Sri Lanka. These teas are grown between 2000-3500 ft and have a rosy red tinge. Teas from Southern India are not as strongly flavored and are grown at medium elevations, allowing for a great balance when tea mixing. Indonesian tea is sourced from the higher elevations of Indonesia, creating a more developed and complex tea.

Red Rose was established by Theodore Harding Estabrooks in 1890, who was the first person to suggest that teas should be consistently produced and packed at a high quality. Red Rose was initially sold in Canada but was then distributed into the US in the 1920s. This distribution still however only remained in areas close to Canada such as Detroit and Portland.

Red Rose was then sold to Brooke Bond and Company of England, which was owned by Arthur Brooke. Due to his England connections and an already vast market within England, Red Rose flourished after its purchase. After WWII, Brooke Bond established a more formidable business in Canada and by 1970 was sold in much of both the US and Canada.

Unilever acquired Brooke Bonds in 1985 and shortly thereafter split the sale of the company, selling the US rights of Red Rose to Redco. Foods Inc, while retaining the rights in Canada and other parts of the world. One such derivation of Unilever, Unilever Tea Kenya (UTK) operates a tea estate in Kericho, Kenya, which supplies a total of 20 000 tonnes of tea annually.