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Rwanda tea emerged the winner of the tea cupping competition that was held during the just concluded African tea convention and exhibition that took place at Sarova white sands Hotel in Mombasa Kenya, from the 20th to 22nd July 2011.

Tea samples were collected from all tea factories in Africa and tea tasting experts were hired to taste the tea and come up with the best quality teas among them. The tasting exercise was carried out in a search way that people who were to taste teas could not trace the origin apart from the organisers who new the codes of the tea tasted, which technically is known as blind tasting.

Tea from Gisovu tea estate emerged overall winner of the tea tasting competition and Kitabi tea estate came third out of over 35 samples tasted.

President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, who was the chief guest at the convention, said that there are new emerging demands for tea and its varieties in the global market. Players in the industry should become more aggressive and produce quality tea to become more competitive. "Ultimately, the bottom line of competitiveness will be the quality of tea we produce. I therefore appeal to tea farmers in Africa to strive to produce quality tea that will continue attracting better prices that will help fight poverty,"

Receiving the quality certificate from H.E Mwai Kibaki, Mr. Kanyankole Alex, the Director General of National Agriculture Export and promotion Board (NAEB) explained that it is because of hard work and a passion for excellence by the tea sector in Rwanda, which has resulted in the production of quality tea.

The convention was attended by over four hundred delegates and fifty exhibitors who constituted the who is who in the tea industry globally. Its no doubt that the Rwandan tea sector will gain enormously from the positive exposure gained at this event.