Gourmet Tea, Zawadi African Tea Article

::.. Profits promised to orphans

By Alec Rosenberg, BUSINESS WRITER

TEA IS MORE than a drink to Oakland resident Robert Kihanya . It's a business. It's a gift. It's a way to help orphans of HIV/AIDS victims in his native Kenya.

Kihanya started Zawadi African Tea six months ago, inspired by a visit last year to Kenya, where it's estimated that 700 people a day die from AIDS. AIDS has orphaned more than 11 million African children under age 15, including 900,000 in Kenya, according to a U.N. Children's Fund report issued Wednesday.

"Most of the families I knew were gone. Even my classmates, most of them were gone," Kihanya said. "It was devastating. I was thinking, What can I do to help?"

Kihanya last week launched the Kenyan AIDS-Orphaned Rescue Campaign. Zawadi will donate part of its profits -- 7.5 percent initially -- to the campaign, which will help to feed, educate and shelter children in Western Kenya. The campaign coordinator is the Kenya AIDS Intervention/Prevention Project Group, a nonprofit that provides AIDS education and job training, and assists AIDS orphans in Kenya.

"We're just thrilled," group director Janet Feldman said. "This is starting as a small venture, but I think it will allow us to do great things. ... Even $20 a month can help to buy food, clothing and education for an HIV/AIDS orphan."

Kihanya , 45, runs the three-employee Zawadi from his East Oakland house. He works weekdays as a financial analyst in San Francisco, but spends evenings and weekends on Zawadi, from giving demonstrations at stores to mixing spices to hand-stamping 80 tea boxes a night.

"I jog every day. After that, I come do my tea," Kihanya said. "That helps me to unwind from long hours of numbers."

Zawadi tea is organically grown and harvested by Kenyan family farmers. Zawadi means "a gift" in Swahili.

"It's a gift to these kids in Africa. It's a gift to the farmers. It's a gift to the buyers," Kihanya said.

Zawadi has sold 3,000 tea boxes in six months but has lost money so far because of overhead costs. It plans to streamline operations by printing boxes commercially and adding a distributor in January, which should help it become profitable.

Zawadi tea is sold in about 30 Northern California stores, with East Bay locations including Estudillo Produce in San Leandro , Village Market in Oakland and Berkeley Bowl, Elephant Pharmacy and Monterey Market in Berkeley.

" It's a little company, but it's an interesting, unique tea and a lot of our customers are into tea," said Miki Werness , grocery buyer at Monterey Market. "We're trying to expand our tea section and it just enhances it. ... ( Kihanya ) is really nice. I think he tries harder than the big guys."

Zawadi black tea retails for about $4.50 to $7.50 for a 4-ounce box of loose tea (tea bags are planned later). Zawadi has two flavors -- Jambo Pure Black Tea and Safari Spiced Black Chai -- and is adding a third -- Xmas Karibu Black Chai with allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg.

The tea is strong, Zawadi spokeswoman Marie Clark said.

"It's kind of like a coffee substitute," Clark said. "It provides you with the rich flavor of coffee with half the caffeine."

African teas have become popular in the United States, said Reem Rahim , who co-founded Oakland's Numi Tea in 1999, introducing teas with African rooibos and honeybush . Rahim had not heard of Zawadi, but said the competitive tea market has room for new companies with exotic flavors.

"I've seen teas from Africa, Vietnam, Tibet, Native American herbal blends," Rahim said. "Tea is opening up, just the way coffee opened up."

Kihanya grew up around tea. His late father was a tea and coffee farmer. Kihanya came to the United States to attend college and be a food scientist, but he became an accountant to pay the bills.

He hopes that within a year he can commit full time to his tea business and give back more to Kenyan AIDS orphans who have been neglected.

"It's realizing my dream," Kihanya said. "(Zawadi tea) tastes good, it's good for you and it's for a good cause."

For information, visit www.zawadiafricantea.com or www.kaippg.org

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