Birchall Virunga is an exceptional afternoon black tea from Rwanda. Our pursuit of quality ensures that all our leaves are only ever hand plucked. The leaf, bud and tender stem are carefully pinched together in a ‘perfect pick’. This is how Birchall VirungaTM gains its exceptional brightness, yellow gold colour and distinctively refreshing flavour. Birchall VirungaTM Afternoon Tea is fully Rainforest Alliance Certified and produced in our 100% solar powered factory in Wiltshire using biodegradable tea bags.

We will donate 5p from the proceeds of each pack to help save Virunga, Africa’s oldest national park and protect its mountain gorillas and other wildlife.

We consider our signature black teas to be truly special and unique in the tea world and we’d like to tell you why. The black teas we use for our breakfast tea are all sourced exclusively from the finest tea estates across East Africa, from Rwanda through to the Great Rift Valley in Kenya; this is generally considered to be where the very best teas are to be found. This equatorial region’s altitude, high rainfall and rich volcanic soil provide the ideal conditions that are integral to growing tea of unparalleled flavour and taste.

The geography and climate of the area where this tea is grown makes it uniquely placed to produce black tea of unparalleled flavour and taste. This equatorial region’s altitude of 1460-4500 metres above sea level, high rainfall and volcanoes along the Congo-Nile Crest provide the ideal conditions and rich soil that are integral to growing outstanding tea.

The tea bushes grow high above sea level, at a slower rate, where the temperature is relatively low, developing greater flavour before they are individually hand picked. The estate provides valuable jobs for people in the area and also runs a co-operative for over 2600 farmers.