Pfunda Tea Estate - Rwanda
Rwanda is a truly astonishing country with a quite stunning landscape. One easily forgets the level of turmoil endured in recent years by its people who continue to strive for a more prosperous and secure future. Tea is playing a key role in rebuilding the economy of this African nation with some of the world’s best being produced by the Pfunda Tea Estate and Factory.
Pfunda is situated 4 hours drive from the capital Kigali in an area known as the ‘Congo Nile Crest’, above Lake Kivu and below the Nyiragongo Volcano in Congo. Here the tea grows at between 1740m and 3100m. and the rich volcanic soil means Pfunda is uniquely placed to produce outstanding tea of unparalleled quality.
The estate provides valuable jobs for people in the local area, and up to 2000 people work on the estate.
The estate also runs a co-operative for the farmers in the local area. Over 2000 farmers are members of this co-operative and supply green leaf to the Tea factory. Pfunda Tea Factory will produce between 1.5 – 2 million kilos of tea this year. This may sound like a lot but in terms of tea manufacture it is relatively small. The Pfunda Estate concentrates on making the finest tea focusing in on quality not quantity.
