Kenyan purple tea
Tea from a purple-leafed cultivar bred in Kenya and released in the early 2010s, whose colour comes from anthocyanins in the leaf. It is processed in several styles and gives a pale liquor with a distinctive light, plummy, slightly tart character quite unlike ordinary black tea.
Character
Light, faintly tart and plum-like, with a pale pinkish-grey liquor that changes colour when acid is added. More interesting as an agricultural development than as a daily drinker.
- Flavour
- Fruity, Mineral
- Aroma
- Fresh
- Mouthfeel
- Light, Drying
- Complexity
- Moderate
- Notes
- plum skin, dry hay, light citrus
- Aftertaste
- Tart and short, with a faint drying edge.
Moderate intensity: noticeable weight or grip, but neither dominates the cup.
Provenance and production
- Origin
- Kenya
- Oxidation
- Partially oxidised
- Harvest
- Year round
- Processing
- Withering → Rolling and shaping → Oxidation → Drying
Authenticity: Purple tea is marketed heavily and often with claims TeaHQ does not repeat. What is verifiable is the cultivar, the leaf colour and the taste; anything beyond that belongs to a sourced health record and there is not one.
History
The TRFK 306 purple cultivar was released by Kenya’s Tea Research Foundation in 2011 after decades of breeding. It is one of very few genuinely new tea products to reach market from an African breeding programme.
Brewing
Western brewing (teapot or mug)
1–1.5 g/100 ml · 88–93 °C · 1 authored infusion
Gongfu brewing (gaiwan)
4–5 g/100 ml · 90–95 °C · 5 authored infusions
No caffeine estimate is authored for this tea. TeaHQ does not infer one from its category, because category predicts caffeine poorly — matcha and gyokuro carry more than many black teas.
If you like this
Grouped by why they were suggested, strongest reason first. Nothing here is a blended score — a suggestion appears under the best reason that exists for it, and never under a weaker one as well.
Editorially linked
Someone wrote down why these two belong together. The note below is theirs.
- Rwandan orthodox black
Two African orthodox teas made against the CTC grain, both floral and unusually clean for the continent.
- Zi Juan black tea
Two purple-leaf teas from different continents and different breeding programmes. Both are cultivar characteristics rather than a category, and neither carries a claim beyond flavour here.
Similar sensory profile
Shares controlled flavour, aroma and mouthfeel descriptors. A looser match — two teas can share descriptors and still taste nothing alike.
- Duyun Mao Jian
Shares 4 descriptors with Kenyan purple tea: mineral, light, drying and fresh.
- Kangra tea
Shares 4 descriptors with Kenyan purple tea: fruity, light, drying and fresh.
- Afternoon blend
Shares 3 descriptors with Kenyan purple tea: fruity, light and fresh.
- Bai Hao Yin Zhen (Silver Needle)
Shares 3 descriptors with Kenyan purple tea: fruity, light and fresh.
- Bi Luo Chun
Shares 3 descriptors with Kenyan purple tea: fruity, light and fresh.
- Bulang sheng pu-erh
Shares 3 descriptors with Kenyan purple tea: mineral, fruity and fresh.