In Kenya, tea is more than just a beverage. It is at the heart of our hospitality. It is also one of the country’s leading exports, with green, lush tea plantations stretching across several parts of the country and supermarket shelves lined with different tea flavours. We call it chai, and most of us enjoy it with milk. In many Kenyan homes, tea is the first thing you are offered when you visit. In fact, hospitality itself is often wrapped up in the Swahili phrase “Karibu chai,” which simply means “come in for tea.” It is less about the drink and more about the welcome. Interestingly, chai also shows up in everyday slang, though not always in a positive way. Sometimes it is used as a polite way of referring to a bribe, with both the giver and receiver calling it “chai.” And in true Kenyan hospitality, whenever I gift my non-Kenyan friends, I always make sure to include several varieties of Kenyan tea for them to enjoy. One of Kenya’s leading tea companies uses the phrase “Fahari ya Kenya,” meaning “the pride of Kenya.” I feel that really captures the role of tea in our country.