Gently Stirred
Loose Leaf Tea
Rwanda Rukeri Plantation OP Green Fair Trade
After the fantastic
success of sales for our Rukeri F.O.P. we felt we had to have more tea from
this Estate. The tea originates from the cooperative ASSOPTHE, which consists
of small farms found towards the north of the country. ASSOPTHE has 4,526
members (1,675 males and 2,851 females) growing tea on 930 hectares found on
well-drained marshlands named Cyohoha and Rukeri. These are found at an
altitude of 5,900 feet with excellent growing conditions, high moisture and an
acidic soil, this terroir produces exceptional quality teas as well as quite
high yields.
The Cooperative
ASSOPTHE Cyohoha-Rukeri which is Fair Trade certified, is close to the SORWATHE
Tea Factory, which is also a Fair Trade Certified Hired Labour Tea Producer,
this ensures that the leaves are delivered fresh from the field to the Factory.
The Individual farmers sell their leaves to SORWATHE, where APPOPTHE owns 13.3%
of the shares.
This is a wonderful
O.P. grade looking remarkably like a Sencha O.P. grade, the leaves are regular
in length and uniform in colour, somewhat darker looking than normal for a
green tea. When brewed it produces a typical ‘Sencha’ aroma but in quite a pale-yellow
cup. It has an excellent flavour and wonderful character; it is sweet with
enough astringency to make the taste enjoyable and not a chore. I enjoyed the
first cup so much I immediately infused a second cup; this cup is slightly more
yellow/green than the first and is the cup you see photographed. An absolutely
fabulous green tea and one I will do my utmost to promote. I steeped these fine
leaves for three and a half minutes at 80oC. I would increase by
half a minute for each extra infusion.