Inside Kitabi Tea Factory
This article is part of Rwanda First-Hand, a series based on my own Tour du Rwanda as Chief Editor of Made in Rwanda TRIBUNE.
Rows of bright green tea bushes cover the hills near Nyungwe, but the real transformation happens inside Kitabi Tea Factory. During my journey through Rwanda earlier this year, I visited the factory in Nyamagabe District and joined an extensive guided tour. It gave me a close look at how fresh tea leaves move from the surrounding hills into a carefully managed production process before becoming finished black tea.
Tea at high altitude
Kitabi Tea Company is part of Rwanda Mountain Tea and operates at around 2,600 metres above sea level. Its Kitabi operation covers about 1,740 hectares. Around 53 per cent of that area is cultivated by outgrowers, linking the factory closely to farming communities in the surrounding area. Rwanda Mountain Tea reports that the operation provides employment to 2,447 people.
Altitude, rainfall and Rwanda’s fertile soils all support tea cultivation in this part of the country. For visitors, the landscape is immediately striking. The tea fields roll across the hills in neat green lines, but the factory tour adds the missing part of the story.
From leaf to black tea
Inside Kitabi Tea Factory, fresh leaves first lose moisture through withering. They then move through cutting and rolling before fermentation develops the colour and character associated with black tea. Drying stops that process. The tea is then sorted and graded.
Kitabi specialises in black CTC tea, with CTC referring to the crush, tear and curl method. The factory produces grades including BP1, PF1, PD and D1. Walking through the production area makes the process far more tangible. The finished tea in a cup might look simple, but behind it sits a chain of farming, machinery, timing and quality control.
International recognition
Kitabi has also built a strong record for quality. At the sixth African Tea Convention and Exhibition in Kigali in October 2024, Kitabi Tea Factory won the BP1 category. The factory had already claimed the overall prize at the second African Tea Convention in Kigali in 2013. That recognition matters because tea is one of the products that connects Rwanda’s agricultural sector with international markets.
A worthwhile stop near Nyungwe
Kitabi also works with farmers and tea pluckers across the region, while wider Rwanda Mountain Tea programmes include investment in areas such as childcare and community support. Rwanda Mountain Tea welcomes visitors to its tea gardens and production activities. That makes Kitabi more than an industrial site.
For travellers heading to Nyungwe, the tour offers an accessible way to understand how one of Rwanda’s agricultural products moves from hillside to factory and from local production towards international markets.
For me, the visit completed the picture. After seeing tea growing across the hills, stepping inside Kitabi showed how that green landscape becomes a Made-in-Rwanda export product.
More information:
Visit the website of Kitabi Tea Factory for information & excursions.
After visiting the Kitabi Tea Factory, it was just a short drive to Munazi Lodge in Nyungwe National Park, where I stayed. Click here to read my article about Munazi Lodge.
