Kenya bets on purple varietal to crack premium market
While Kenya is one of the largest tea producers and exporters in the world, trailing only India and China in terms of volume, its growers have struggled to break into the premium tea segment. The country may have recently found a solution in the form of purple tea, a variety specifically designed for medical uses. The unique purple color comes from high levels of anthocyanins, the antioxidants that give other foods like blueberries or grapes their purple or red color. Anthocyanins have a reputation in the alternative medicine community as a possible treatment for everything from high blood pressure to cancer, although scientific evidence remains inconclusive.