Mother Nature

Kaimosi storm

Farming is never easy and a recent hail storm caused severe damage to Kaimosi. 

An eye witness described the storm; 

"The sky appeared as if we were experiencing a solar eclipse for about 5 minutes, followed by a strong wind which lasted for over 7 minutes blowing off weighing shed pillars and roofs, demolishing a few of them and leaving several trees/branches down in various indigenous tree forests, fuel/timber plantations and even in some bungalows, factory compound and camps. Tea windbreaks were not spared either.  

What followed thereafter were heavy hailstones consisting of large to medium size crystalline opaque pebbles which lasted about 7 minutes. These crystals took several minutes to fully melt while those which fell on depressions and valleys remained until the following day.  There was an extensive damage of tea shoots/bushes in the entire farm.  The seedlings in the nursery, especially the young gum ready for planting were badly damaged as witnessed the following day.

As the hailstorm subsided, a heavy down pour accompanied by lightening and thunderstorm followed which appeared to clean up the whole mess. This was then followed by an electrical power failure and blockage of several estate roads by the fallen trees."

Slipping & Sliding on the farms

A recent visit to Kaimosi after a rain storm made for some interesting driving! 

That sinking feeling....

Helpful crowd of onlookers! 

 Relief!

What's in your cup?

Direct Sourcing; From Bush to Cup & Why Its Important

The market place, social media and online websites are full of information on importance of sourcing meat and vegetables direct from the farmer, but very little is said about this in the tea world. Why is this? Largely because all of the major brands are simply blenders and not farmers, sourcing teas from around the world, never actually getting their hands dirty and growing it themselves. Something that is little publicised and precisely what makes Williamson Tea so unique! From bush to cup its all us, straight from our farms, all of our teas are grown on our own farms, there's no blending, no middle men, in one step, from bush to cup. 

So why is this important?

The 'Horsegate scandal' last year demonstrated clearly how long supply chains lack traceability and that the old adage of "you don't get ought for nought" is still true. By buying direct from a trusted farmer the consumer can be confident that the product they are consuming has been produced sustainably with integrity, offers complete traceability and is fresher, coming direct from the source. In our teas case we can take you to the bushes that your blend is grown on, show you the people that pluck the tea and the factory that processes it, thats traceability, far more than a simple mention about being 'sustainably sourced' on the packet. We grow our tea, we know what happens to it every step of the way. We believe passionately that this in depth knowledge of our farms built up over 140 years of experience in the growing, blending and selecting fine teas, allows us to create blends of unrivalled quality.  We understand the specific requirements of each of our blends and how the micro-climates of a particular farm lend themselves to producing certain teas, all as part of a balance of the rhythm of the seasons. Thats the difference about going direct to the source.