I had such an amazing time in Cameroon, Africa that I would like to share parts of my trip with you; especially the parts including tea! Cameroon is West Africa’s only producer and exporter of tea, it is home to one of the largest tea plantations in the entire world and Cameroon produces over 4000 tons of tea a year.
Relying on these facts, I was convinced that finding quality loose-leaf tea would be as simple as finding palm oil (as palm trees grow wildly and abundantly in Cameroon). Boy, was I wrong! Oddly, Cameroonians don’t drink the very tea that grows in their backyards and almost 90% of the tea grown in Cameroon is exported to neighboring countries.
What is more, during my visit, the elections were under-way and the country was experiencing a tension that locals consider normal during this time. Cameroon is a bilingual country (French and English) and although most of the country is made up of French Provinces, the smallest English Provinces feel under-represented and tend to violently protest and revolt during election season. Cameroonian’s ambivalence toward their own tea and civil unrest, which made travel to the South-West Provinces and the Northern Provinces of Cameroon unsafe, rendered it virtually impossible to find tea in what I would call "Tea Country".
Was I able to eventually find tea in Cameroon? What did I discover along the way? What do I plan to return to see in this amazing country? Stay tuned to find out!
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Would you be interested in trying Cameroonian Tea?