Mt Kenya tea farmers oppose move to replace human tasters with machines
By Brian Malila, October 31, 2025Tea factory stakeholders from the Mt Kenya region have opposed a recent industry proposal to introduce machine-based testing for tea flavours, describing it as unrealistic and a threat to Kenya’s reputation in the global tea market.
Speaking on Friday, October 31, 2025, at Rukuriri Tea Factory in Embu, when he met farmers, the factory chairman, Joseph Rwanjau, dismissed the move, insisting that only human taste can accurately determine a tea’s true flavour.
He said international buyers prefer the traditional biological testing method and warned that adopting machine-based testing would negatively affect Kenya’s exports.
“We prefer biological testing. The taste of a human being cannot be the taste of a machine. We tried machine testing before, but the buyers refused,” Rwanjau said.
He said it would be disastrous to dictate new testing methods to the market, noting that the tea industry thrives on consumer trust built over decades through biological tasting.
Rwanjau also dismissed claims that tea farmers from the eastern region receive higher bonuses than those in the west, terming the claims as unfounded. He said tea quality is the only factor that determines pricing and bonus payments.
“Tea prices are determined purely by quality, not region. Rukuriri’s competitive edge and high bonus payments are due to the quality of leaf we produce and our commitment to value addition,” he stated.
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To sustain higher earnings, Rwanjau announced that the factory has invested Ksh10 million in a new tea-packing machine, which has already been imported and will begin operations in December 2025.
He said the new equipment will increase the share of locally sold, value-added products from 2 per cent to 10 per cent, ensuring higher returns for farmers in the next payment cycle.
He attributed the factory’s strong financial performance to its focus on value addition, including production of branded tea bags and premium leaf tea.
This comes after the farmers urged the government, through the Ministry of Agriculture, to promote value addition for Kenyan tea to attract better markets and increase farmers’ earnings.
Boosting tea production
Rwanjau further revealed that Rukuriri Tea Factory is focusing on expanding raw tea production. In 2025, he said, the factory had collected 1.7 million kilograms of green leaf, up from 1.6 million kilograms during the same period in 2024.
However, he raised concerns over the delayed completion of the factory’s orthodox tea processing line, saying the setback has limited the factory’s ability to diversify and improve bonus payments.
The chairman also said fertiliser for farmers has already arrived at the Port of Mombasa and will be distributed soon to boost productivity.
He emphasised that increasing production volumes would reduce the average cost of production and, in turn, raise overall earnings for both the factory and its farmers.
The push for machine-based tea testing stems from growing discontent among tea farmers, particularly in the Rift Valley, who claim that the traditional biological grading system has been unfair and inconsistent, leading to lower bonuses for their produce.
Many of the farmers argue that human-led tasting is prone to bias and subjective judgment, and they believe that introducing technology could bring transparency and uniformity to the grading process, a proposal that has now sparked sharp debate across Kenya’s tea-growing regions.