Ray of Light

A rare yellow tea from Kenya, this bright, clear brew brings notes of apricot, a crisp minerality and a vibrant mouthfeel.

“What’s yellow tea?” followed by “they grow tea in Kenya?” are the common questions we hear about this tea.  Yellow tea is one of the six official types of camellia leaf tea.  It is processed similar to green tea, being heated after picking to stop the oxidation process.  But yellow tea has an additional step called meng huang: the still-warm leaves are wrapped in paper bundles, where they ‘stew’ a bit.  This typically mellows out the grassy flavor of green tea, producing a more smooth, honey-sweet character.  This labor intensive process has meant that only a few small regions in China produce yellow tea - until now.

Kenya has recently become the third largest tea producing country in the world, after China and India.  Most of the black tea leaves used in classics like ‘English Breakfast’ and ‘Earl Grey’ are grown in Kenya.  But Kenyan tea farmers have been pushing the envelope. They first pioneered the cultivation of purple leaf varietals of the tea plant, and now have branched out with specialty whole leaf processing methods, like our Ray of Light.

Ray of Light is grown and produced by LegacySips, owned and operated for four generations by native Kenyans.