Tea Makes warm Feelings

Other than those health benefits of the antioxidants and theanine in tea, research as showed emotional well being too! Read more at http://www.simplygreen.co.za/international-news/lifestyle-and-food/tea-makes-warm-feelings.html

General news

The last few weeks have seen us trying to finish off a number of projects before the season begins. This week having seen 3 consecutive days of rain starts the countdown to our first big flush of the season which we will expect in 6 weeks time.

At the beginning of November we had our first Rainforest Alliance audit which went well. We now await feedback from the certifiers and hope to have our certificate in place before the end of December.

This period also sees lots of visits from buyers who come to talk price, volume and delivery schedules for the months ahead

Fauna & Flora

We have this past week had a small team going through all our forests and wildlife corridors doing a survey of birds, tree and insect species found in them. The team is led by Tiwonge Mzumara and she will be producing a report listing all the different species found, the health of the forests and guiding us as to how we can manage these areas in future to best preserve them and the bird species within them.

The Journey of a Cuppa

We have been getting some very welcome winter rain the last week or so. This is setting the fields up well for an August / September flush – we don’t get this every year, but is important to us for cashflow reasons and because it is a time of year when we can make some of our best quality teas.

We receive our winter rain in the form of days of very light precipitation with complete cloud cover and no sun for days at a time. This unfortunately  makes our roads a bit of a hazard – here are a few snaps of a container load of tea bound for the UK market that almost overturned as the truck slid off the road – if the top of the container hadn’t hit the bank, the truck would have ended up on its side.

 

Earlier in the morning, the truck was leaning against this bank. See the tea bushes roots sticking out of the bank. We hooked a chain to the top of the LHS of the container and pulled it straight with a tractor.

 

 

This set of tyres was 30cms off the ground.

We eventually managed to tow the trailer out backwards with a tractor – hope you enjoy the tea!

Audit Season

We have fairtrade auditors around for the next 2 weeks. 1 week at Satemwa and 1 week at Msuwadzi smallholders association. This involves a great deal of paperwork and ties up several people for the duration.

This year is a year 2 check which is an interim audit – this monitors our progress against the standard, to help ensure that we are ready for the year 3 audit which is a full audit. The auditor will also be checking our weak areas that have been highlighted in past years to ensure we have dealt with them effectively.

Next month we have our second Utz audit which will be done by Africert. Tomorrow we also have members from the Utz Kenya office who will be going through our pre-audit checklist with us to ensure we are well prepared.

Coffee Harvest & other news

The coffee harvest is now in full swing, with about half our estimated crop picked.

As well as the usual washed style of coffee, Mark Gomani has been experimenting with some pulped natural coffees. We are just getting the first of these coffees through for tasting with some interesting results – more on this later.

Work on improving soil and general environment continues. Both Rob Emmott and Mark Gomani notice a significant increase in earth worm activity in the coffee fields compared to past years. The action of the earthworms will improve soil structure which will definitely impact on plant health and cup quality.

We exported our first consignment of roast and ground coffee to Zimbabwe in May. It seems to have been well received and will be sending the next lot in early July.

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Change of Seasons

After a hot and wet last week of April, this first week of May has seen typical breezy champagne clear days and cool nights. This is one of the best times of year in this part of the world and both the tea and coffee gardens glow with health.

On the coffee side, the harvest has begun, with a few hundred kg’s of the early ripening cherries being picked each day. We will start harvesting the main and better quality crop towards the end of the month.

The tea factory is still full and will be so for the next 2 weeks or so, after which the effects of the cooler drier weather will kick in and volumes will drop.

This next few months is a period of tidying up, budgeting, planning for the next season, servicing machinery, and making improvements.

More Health Tips

Satemwa is embarking on another study with University of the Marche in Ancona, Italy. This time analysing how 5 different Chinese teas and a Satemwa white react when prepared in hot and cold water. Initial results are confirming what has been shown in previous studies in that white tea has a much higher antioxidant activity where prepared using cold water.

Satemwa white’s are ranking among the top together with two other white teas.

Have you had your cup of Satemwa White today?

Antioxidants

Satemwa has been working with the University of the Marche in Ancona, Italy in monitoring how the manufacturing process affects antioxidant activity in tea.

Dr. Elisabetta Damiani and her team have just submitted an article for peer review on the findings of the initial work done. They found that the general trend of antioxidant activity for tea made from the same cultivar was highest in green tea and followed the following pattern; green tea > decaffeinated green tea > white tea > black orthodox tea > black CTC tea.

They also found some seasonal variation as would be expected, indicating that tea harvested in September ( Spring flush for Satemwa teas )appears to have higher antioxidant
potency.

The study also included teas from Asian origins and results ‘suggest’ the ‘significant antioxidant activity’ of the Satemwa teas  could ‘rival more common green and white teas from Asian countries.’

Drink up!

Satemwa on the BBC

BBC radio 4 is currently running a programme in their food series on speciality tea. Satemwa is featured, with reference to fair-trade and our speciality tea range. The presenter also gets to be wowed by a delicious cup of Lost Malawi tea!

You can find the programme at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00pn410/Food_Programme_Speciality_Tea/. It runs for about 30 minutes and provides a good insight into the possibilities of tea!