History Of Malawian Tea

Malawi boasts of being the pioneer for tea growing in the African continent. The industry dates back to as far ago as 1890 when Europeans still had abodes in Africa. Jonathan Duncan is attributed with consistently trying out a variety of tea seeds in Malawian soils which he obtained from Edinburg. After many futile efforts, he successfully planted two tea trees in 1878 at the Blantyre Mission grounds. However, the true diversification of tea growing in the country’s fertile regions is pin-pointed back to one Henry Brown; a Scottish farmer who was in Malawi courtesy of Scottish Missionaries. The Missionaries had received the seeds from Edinburg’s Royal Botanic Gardens. Brown was eager to revive his passion in plantation farming after his coffee succumbed to disease in Sri Lanka. He went on to erect tea gardens at his estate and the climate only propelled the crop’s successful growth.

Mulanje lowlands and the Thyolo highlands were the first recipients of the newly introduced cash crop. The tea gardens in the aforementioned areas acquired the seeds from South Africa’s Natal which were originally transplanted and cultivated in Sri Lanka’s region of Ceylan