Tea Series #8: Kiambethu Tea History
This is the 8th cache of the 10-cache Tea Series which takes you through the lush green Limuru-Tigoni tea-growing area. The cache, a custom-made, bottle-tops micro, is hidden at ground level under twigs and leaf litter, between the trunks of two trees on the northern edge of this shady road-side clearing dominated by a huge multi-trunked tree. Tea fields are directly adjacent to the area, so you can easily access and walk down one of the tracks through the fields to fully experience the lush green tea environment.
To Reach the Cache Location: see cache GC5KAXT for the approach route and the two relevant waypoints. The cache location is on the eastern side of the road approximately 100m south of the historic Kiambethu Tea Farm.
History of Tea in Kenya
The African tea trade was started by one little known family in Kenya – the McDonells. Without them, Kenya may never have become the biggest exporter of black tea in the world and breakfast tea would not have the richness of colour and flavour that we now know.
Given the role that African tea plays in many famous black tea blends, it is surprising that tea didn’t reach Africa until the 20th century. Tea seedlings were introduced to Kenya from India in 1903 by GWL Canine and first planted in Limuru, north of Nairobi - simply for ornamental purposes! He, like so many others, failed to see the opportunity to grow tea commercially in Africa. It was several decades that an inventive Scot saw the agricultural potential of the camellia leaf.
Arnold Butler McDonell, better known as AB, purchased 350 acres from the British government in 1904, moving to Kenya to establish 
his own farm, Kiambethu (which means traditional dancing ground in Kikuyu), 23km NE of Nairobi. He had dreams of growing crops on the lush land there, but at 2,300m (7,200ft) all the crops he tried to grow failed - coffee, corn and flax all wilted, and his dream of farming seemed to be becoming a living nightmare.
After over 10 years disappointment a friend visited AB from India, bringing a gift of a few tea seedlings of Camellia sinensis assamica. With nothing to lose, AB immediately decided to try growing the plant on his land holding. He planted 20 acres in 1918 and to his delight the bushes thrived. In 1926 he became the first commercial tea producer in Africa, establishing an industry in Kenya which is now worth over $1.5 billion a year!
As the tea pioneer of Kenya, his early years of tea production were spent trying to establish the ways and means to produce and sell his tea. With no tea factory in the area, he was forced to process all of the tea on the farm itself, transporting it personally by train to Nairobi’s Bazaar Street, where he sold the finished product directly to traders.
His success in producing and processing the world’s first African tea came with the development of an expanding family. His four 
daughters were born on the farm and when it came time to educate them, he built a girl’s school 100m from the farm gate. The school (Tigoni Girls School) still stands today, along with All Saints Church, Limuru which he also designed and built.
He lived to be 98 and never left Kiambethu. His daughter took over the farm after his retirement and introduced guided tours for tourists in the 1960s. She in turn, passed the farm onto her daughter, Fiona Vernon, who had said she would never run tea tours. However, when her mother died in 1998, she was left with a pre-booking for a group and obliged to guide the tour . . . and carried on ever since!
The farm still produces tea and although the family have sold most of the original 350 acres, 35 still remain with 2 acres used for tea. Fiona continues to share the knowledge passed down through the generations to all those who visit Kiambethu, and the legacy of her grandfather remains.