Rwandan black tea
High-altitude East African tea grown mostly above 1,800 metres on volcanic soil and harvested year-round. Almost all of it is CTC sold at auction into blends, where its brightness and depth of colour are valued without the origin appearing on any packet.
Character
Bright, strong and deeply coloured, valued in the blending trade for exactly those properties. Worth a record because it is drunk enormously and named almost never.
- Flavour
- Roasted, Fruity
- Aroma
- Malty
- Mouthfeel
- Full bodied, Astringent, Drying
- Complexity
- Straightforward
- Notes
- brisk malt, leather, dark fruit
- Aftertaste
- Sharp and drying.
Bold intensity: full-bodied, astringent or bitter enough to lead the cup.
Provenance and production
- Origin
- Rwanda
- Oxidation
- Fully oxidised
- Harvest
- Year round
- Processing
- Withering → Rolling and shaping → Oxidation → Drying → CTC (crush, tear, curl)
History
Rwanda’s tea industry was established in the 1950s and rebuilt after 1994, with high-elevation estates near Nyungwe forest now producing some of Africa’s most highly regarded orthodox tea.
Brewing
Western brewing (teapot or mug)
1–1.5 g/100 ml · 95–100 °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
The same country’s bulk CTC and its speciality orthodox production. The orthodox tea is floral and delicate; buyers who have only met the CTC generalise wrongly from it.
Similar sensory profile
Shares controlled flavour, aroma and mouthfeel descriptors. A looser match — two teas can share descriptors and still taste nothing alike.
- CTC black tea
Shares 5 descriptors with Rwandan black tea: roasted, full bodied, astringent, drying and malty.
- English Breakfast
Shares 5 descriptors with Rwandan black tea: roasted, full bodied, drying, astringent and malty.
- Kenyan black tea
Shares 5 descriptors with Rwandan black tea: roasted, full bodied, astringent, drying and malty.
- Scottish Breakfast
Shares 5 descriptors with Rwandan black tea: roasted, full bodied, astringent, drying and malty.
- Assam
Shares 4 descriptors with Rwandan black tea: fruity, full bodied, drying and malty.
- Irish Breakfast
Shares 4 descriptors with Rwandan black tea: fruity, full bodied, drying and malty.
- Malawi black tea
Shares 4 descriptors with Rwandan black tea: roasted, fruity, drying and malty.