My closest “end-to-end” experience with tea:
- Picked the purple tea leaves
- Helped process the tea (so the cooking and the pressing / rolling by hand)
- Received when dried
- Brought it back home
- Cold-brewed
- Enjoyed
Wala naman akong lesson, but some of the things I learned from the tour I can share:
- Tea might’ve started by accident in China (legend has it that some tea leaves flew into the boiling water of one of the emperors)
- The colonial grandfathers, the Brits, making an appearance again (stealing tea leaves from China, stealing tea farmers, and bringing them to India because it’d be too obvious to bring them back to Britain my gosh)
- It takes a looooooooong time to cultivate tea – 7 years, if I remember correctly!
- Our tea tourguide Lucy was such a gem! <3
- The tips of tea leaves are like the champagne of tea 🙂
- Purple tea (at least commercially) is mostly produced in Kenya! They have an institute that created it, I believe. 🙂
Reporting lang na matapang ang tsaa na ‘to. Malasa. Masarap. 💖🫖
Salamat, Gatura Greens. 🙂 (Thanks also to friends over at Ministry Fundraising Network and my team at the Lausanne Movement. <3)
It seems long ago now, but this trip to Kenya to host the African Roundtable on the Theology of Generosity and Fundraising only happened in February. I even made a little post on LinkedIn about it, just to commemorate the moment. I’ve noticed that my skill in documenting/commemorating has declined, but it’s a habit I’d like to keep in the long run. I aim to get back into it, and this website post is an attempt.
It’s been six months since Kenya. Where I’m learning how to travel for work (in a way that works for me too), how to be present, how to think on my feet, and how life is really just that much sweeter thanks to the friends you make along the way.
Time is flying by, and at this juncture of history I am still bewildered, happy, and deeply aware that Life it passing through my little one. I would really like to be doing what I can to be there for all of it (and I want the people I love to know I love them).
Remember, self: You can’t afford to waste time or take good health for granted. Good things take time (7 years for tea farms right!), and preparing for it is just as important, too.
You have a nice cup of coldbrew purple tea from Kenya to remind you in case you ever forget. 😉
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