Mozambique

Nº185

Mozambique OP1 Zheng

G'S/TEA 3 gr/tea

ML/WATER 150 ml

TEMPERATURE 95º

STEEPING TIME 5 mins

With body, caramel flavour, roasted malt. A touch of astringency.


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The Portuguese influence in the incep7on of the tea trade is almost lost to history, but it is
deeply etched in the discovery of Galle and Colombo in Ceylan (Sri Lanka) in 1505.
Nowhere is Portugal's investment in the tea trade more evident than in Mozambique.
Established in the 1920s, the first planta7ons expanded rapidly, and by the 1950s Mozambique
had become the largest tea producer in Africa.
Sadly, the 1964-1974 independence struggle, followed by a 15-year civil war, decimated the tea
industry. Today it is going through a process of rehabilita7on.


MONTE METILILE ESTATE

The farm is located near Gurúè in the shadow of the Namuli mountain range that rises to 2,419
meters. The foothills of Zambezia province are a tea planta7on paradise: a perfect combina7on
of rich volcanic soils, al7tude, rainfall and seasonality that induce hiberna7on of tea plants to
produce excep7onal teas. Mozambique is tropical and hot, with a cool, dry season from May to
October and a hot, humid season from November to April.

Monte Me7lile Estate is a fully organic farm, with livestock producing composted manure from
plant cu\ngs that cover the foliage, reduced to a rich fer7liser through vermiculture. Mohit
Agarwal, director of the company, explains that “our natural ecosystem is ideal for managing a
planta7on without chemicals or fer7lisers. We have a lot of green cover planted with citronella,
Guatemalan grass and Neem. We ini7ally thought that we could source our supply of organic
biocompost and biofer7liser in Europe or America, but we decided not to, as we thought it was
be_er to grow everything we needed within the same farm. Thus we created a dairy farm,
dedica7ng one hectare of organic pasture for each head of ca_le and producing milk that we
supply to the workers of the farms who produce cheese, lard and bu_er. We grow organic corn
for food, as well as bananas, sugarcane, and many organic fruits and vegetables.”
The planta7on is Fair Trade Interna7onal and Fair Trade USA cer7fied, in addi7on to organic
cer7fica7ons including USDA-NOP, EU BIO ORGANIC and JAS. Their numerous fair trade awards
have allowed them to buy an ambulance, which is essen7al for caring for people on such a
large property, and to develop the installa7on of pipes supplying homes with drinking water.
They generate their own electricity through water-powered turbines and have 500 hectares of
eucalyptus forest that are used as a fuel source in the factories where the tea is made.
Mozambique is truly one of the best kept secrets in the world of tea.

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