History of Ceylon Tea

President Willima Ruto in a meeting with Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) offiicials in May termed it ‘unforgivable that we did not have a Kenyan tea brand’.

Kenyan tea, he said, ought to be branded better to increase its visibility in the global market. Kenya is one of the world’s largest exporters of black tea, with the crop contributing approximately 23 percent to the country’s GDP.

Despite being both well-known for its unique flavour and excellent quality as well as having an embarrassment of riches in the profusion of local brands, one would be hard pressed to point to an international brand along the lines of Ceylon Tea — owned by the Sri Lanka Tea Board — or the Darjeeling tea, owned by the Tea Board of India.

The latter is a study in how a country can go about setting up a global tea brand built on distinctive taste and flavour as a result of geographical characteristics or processing.

Darjeeling tea is cultivated and produced in the Darjeeling district in the Indian state of West Bengal. All dealers in Darjeeling tea are legally obligated to be licensed by the Tea Board of India, which monitors production and manufacture. The tea supply chain is monitored from the farm and all exports of Darjeeling tea must be accompanied by a certificate of origin.

The Tea Board of India registered the Darjeeling logo and word as certification marks under the Indian Trade and Merchandise Marks Act, 1958. Certification marks help to identify goods which meet a defined standard; they are owned by one person but licensed to others to identify goods which meet the defined standard.

The board also registered the word and logo as geographical indications in September, 2003. Geographical Indications (GIs) are signs used on products with a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or reputations due to that origin. Examples include champagne and prosecco.

Protecting the Darjeeling brand through both certification marks and GIs was quite forward-looking as it ensured that the brand was protected even in countries where either mark was not accepted by the authorities.

The board in 1998 also engaged the services of an international watch agency- Compumark- which monitors all attempts to register the word 'Darjeeling' worldwide. Several such attempts have been flagged and reported to the board, which has then challenged them.

The Tea Board of Kenya can borrow a lot from its Indian counterpart. While Kenya does not currently have a GI law, GIs are protected through the Trademarks Act, which provides for inter alia certification marks.

It is, however, high time had a comprehensive law to protect GIs. Protecting the Kenyan tea brand in this manner would not only make commercial benefits available to tea farmers, but it would also cement Kenya’s reputation as a purveyor of distinctive and quality tea.

George Mutwiri -Advocate