We left the embassy about 7:45 am and arrived at the tea plantation after a 2 hour pretty painless drive (though I did get car sick but hey - what do you expect in the land of a thousand hills?) We put on long blue cotton coats, these funky blue hats and face masks. Then went on the tour...
This is a chart of how the tea is graded - the PF1 in the middle is the best - meaning it has the right percent of moisture, an even texture and a good color. The only real difference I could tell between the types was the texture - the ones on the left of the chart were really finely ground - almost like a powder and the samples on the right of the chart were really coarse and looked more like some sort of dried out plant.
Flowers are planted on the borders of all the fields. It is amazingly beautiful!
Stacks and stacks and more stacks of bulk tea getting ready to be shipped out.
Stack and stacks and more stacks of chopped wood that is used to heat the furnaces that help dry out the tea. This plantation plants and harvests its own supply of trees to have enough to keep the furnaces going.
Dried out tea on the conveyor belt on its way to being bagged.
A picture from the bus of the acres of trees that are being grown to keep the furnaces going.
Beautiful tea plants. There is a big push in Rwanda to stop child labor on tea plantations.
After our tour we got to taste test all the different types of teas. I wish I could have remembered them all but what I can tell you is that the cup closest to the bottom of the picture has the finest grain which makes it the strongest tea. I have more pictures of this field trip - you can check them out here.
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