Black teas are made from tea leaves that have been quickly and heavily oxidized. This gives the leaf and liquor a dark appearance and significantly changes the aroma and flavor - most notably in the strong body of breakfast teas. Chinese gongfu black teas are less concerned with strength and focus on more subtle characteristics.
Kenya has the environment to produce some of the finest teas in the world. From the 1940's to the 1970’s, some of the best British-style black teas were from Kenya. From the 1980's through the 2000's, they converted most of their tea industry from orthodox production (a more labor intensive, but higher quality approach to making tea) to CTC (machine) production. They also placed a stronger emphasis on increasing yield at the expense of quality. In the last 10 years, there has been a movement in Kenya back toward the orthodox approach.
