Tumoi Teas, Kenya
The story of Tumoi Teas is a story of family, love and heritage…..
On his graduation in the early 70’s Jacob Katah stood proudly before a crowd of scholars, their friends and family to deliver his valedictorian speech. Seated in the dais was a senior manager of one of the leading tea farms in the region. The gentleman, of British origin, was so taken by his eloquence that he offered to give the young man a ride home. That long ride, through the rolling Nandi Hills would turn out to be Jacob’s job interview. A week later, Jacob Katah joined the famed tea farm in the region as a trainee manager.
It was during his illustrious career that Jacob fell in love with tea. He encouraged local subsistence farmers to take up tea farming. These initial efforts saw Nandi rise as one of the leading producers of tea in the country. Jacob Katah became a tea farmer in his own right, he grew the cash crop on and developed his own estate.
Boaz Katah, Mzee Katah’s son (Mzee is a Swahili word for wise man), would be born in the teainfused fields of Nandi. Right from his birth, Boaz lived, breathed and played in the tea plantations and often accompanied his father to the tea farms and factory. When he was much older, Boaz left briefly to pursue a degree in Computer Science but soon returned to follow in his father’s footsteps.
In 2013, Boaz Katah established Tumoi Teas, a boutique tea cottage located at the heart of Nandi Hills in Kenya. Boaz continues the story:
“Africa, and Kenya particularly, is known for its good tea. However historically our manufacturing is tailored towards large-scale low-cost tea products.
I was born in the tea plantations of Nandi where my late father (Jacob Katah) worked in a multinational tea farm. From my findings I realised there is a consumer group that desires high end.
By trial and error, research and innovation I have sought to fill this gap through Tumoi Teas, a company I founded 7 years ago. In trying to fill this gap we sought to define what a specialty tea is so as to use that as a guiding principle. Specialty Teas according to us is defined by these five P's.
Plant. Place. Process. Product. People.
Every tea cultivar (Plant) from a particular place (terroir) should be processed to bring out the best characters (product) and should celebrate the people (farmers and artisans) who grow or make it.
Everything done at Tumoi Teas tells a thousands of stories. Stories of our Plants, our "limousine treatment " processes, our People our Products and Farms (places)
We have a variety of specialty teas as follows:
Nandi Hills Black, Nandi Gold, Kenya White Rhino, Growing Green, Purple Love and Safari Oolong.”
