Once again, it was the British who did it. After starting plantations in India and Ceylon, they took tea to Africa in the early 20th century. The Germans and French soon followed suit, and production boomed.
Today, the geography of African tea cuts across the continent from East to West above and along the Equator, then turns down south toward South Africa. It is a vast production, but rarely a quality one. The vast majority of African tea ends into blends and teabags. Several countries, however, have notable exceptions, interesting teas that are worth drinking in their own right. These gems are what I set out to discover as I begin my exploration of African tea.
My journey starts on a nearly clean slate. Beyond some Kenya, which I have tried in the pastā??mostly in teabagsā??I haven’t really tried other African teas. Or rather, I must have drunk plenty of it in dunk-it-fast teabags, but never on their own. So it is with some curiosity that this morning I approached some Cameroon BOP leaves, which I got from Le Palais des Thes. It is billed as a strong morning tea, and the vendor recommends steeping it for up to five minutes. However, I found slightly shorter times were more to my taste, and settled for steeping 2.5g in 7oz boiling water for three minutes. It gave a beautiful deep amber cup, which made it clear why African teas are so good for blendsā??their color is just unbeatable. The scent was good too, and reminded me of a good Ceylon.
The Ceylon impression evaporated at first sip, though. This tea was undoubtedly less refined than a Ceylon, but oozed caffeine power. It was full bodied and flavorsome, like an Assam without the malty note. For its price, it made an excellent early morning tea, full of energy like as Kandinsky painting.
My first foray into Africa was very promising and I was even tempted to add this Cameroon BOP to my line-up of regular breakfast teas, but I have since discovered that plantation workers in the country often labour in very hard conditions with substandard benefits and medical care. I don’t know whether the tea I had today comes from a troubled plantation. But I find it difficult to enjoy a drink if the people who made it for me are struggling for their rights.