Eden Tea is changing local consumer tea preferences and market dynamics. It has therefore invested a lot on human and financial resources, and also on research, innovation and product development.

“Today’s consumer is health conscious. He or she is more inclined to healthy tea products,” says Karirana Estates Sales and Marketing Manager Mr. Humphrey Mwangi. “Eden Tea has ventured into specialty tea categories, which include green tea and purple tea, in addition to flavoured teas (lemon and tangawizi) to supplement the black tea varieties.  This product diversification caters for the increasingly healthy conscious consumers, who want to enjoy a cup of their favourite tea flavour while at the same time refreshing, re-energizing and detoxifying their bodies.

“Our variety of flavours and ready to drink teas, whether hot or cold, come in handy to serve the modern tea consumer,” Mr. Mwangi stresses.

In response, there has been an increase in the consumption of flavoured teas among young consumers. “These are young explorative people who are always on the move.  They want to try out new beverages at any time of the day,” Mwangi points out.

Therefore, a wide scope of research has gone into the development of new tea products at Eden Tea. Purple tea is one of the latest. In fact, Karirana Estates is among the first companies in Kenya to pack this relatively new tea variety that has been found to have beneficial health attributes.

According to research by the Kenya Tea Research Institute, Purple tea has high levels of antioxidants.  Further, Purple tea has low levels of caffeine and contains high anthocyanins, giving enriched health benefits. Green tea has high antioxidants, flavonoids and catechins, which give the user rich health benefits. Today, Eden Tea’s specialty products such as green tea and purple tea command a growing market share in Kenya.

Milk and sugar are not recommended for the rare purple tea variety, as they inhibit its notable health benefits.  So, to get the best out of Eden’s purple tea, here’s how to make it.

• Boil clean water.
• Put an Eden purple tea-bag into an empty tea pot or cup (recommended amount is one tea bag per cup).
• Add the boiling water into the pot or cup and allow to simmer for 3-4 minutes.
• Squeeze some fresh lemon juice into the pot/cup and cover for 1 minute.
• Squeeze the teabag with a spoon, then remove. ▪ Add honey to taste
• Serve and enjoy.