‘Champagne of tea world’ is taste of Yorkshire Gold
HIGH UP in one of the three striking arches of the pavilion of Rwanda’s new cricket ground is a little taste of Yorkshire.
A Yorkshire Tea bar has been introduced to provide brews to the crowds who will gather in the stadium and marvel at the pavilion, which represents the bounce of a cricket ball.
Taylors of Harrogate, the company behind Yorkshire Tea, has become an undeniably important commercial force in Rwanda, with the firm buying more than 10 per cent – 2.5m kilograms – every year of all the tea produced there.
The elevation of plantations – some as high as 8,000ft – coupled with volcanic soils and cycles of wet and then dry weather have seen Rwanda heralded as producing the “new Champagne of the tea world”.
Taylors of Harrogate has also invested more than £1m in social and environmental projects since 2010 to ensure the quality of tea is preserved for its showpiece Yorkshire Gold product.
The company’s head of tea Ian Brabbin, who has helped develop a scheme to introduce cricket at plantations, said: “In the remote tea estates, people do not have a great deal to do. The joy that cricket brings to them is something that will live with me for the rest of my life.”
Talks are under way to establish The Yorkshire Tea Tea Cup tournament, featuring teams from eight tea estates.