Tea plant

The emerald terraces of tea estates at the foot of Mulanje and in Thyolo are Malawi’s most picturesque farming landscape.

The tea plant is an evergreen shrub or tree that in cultivation is kept at about a metre high, forming level, flat “tables” that make picking easier. It has leathery, toothed leaves and fragrant white flowers. To make tea, the two youngest leaves and a bud are picked by hand and then withered, rolled, fermented and dried. The plant needs a warm climate, plentiful rainfall and acidic, free-draining soils, so it does best on upland slopes.

Significance in the country

Malawi was one of the first countries in Africa to grow tea commercially – the first estates were established in Mulanje at the end of the 19th century. Today the country is one of the continent’s largest tea producers, and tea is one of its main exports.

Where it grows

The Shire Highlands: Thyolo and Mulanje districts, home to the vast majority of the estates; smaller plantings at Nkhata Bay in the north.

More: Wikipedia (en) Wikipedia (pl)