Powerful Houston-Kenyan Partnership Launches Purple Tea in the US

UENDURE Tea Company was honored to have our Houston-Kenya story featured in International Focus Magazine.  In case you missed it, we are re-publishing and sharing the International Focus Magazine article here for your review:

There is a saying “When God gives you a vision, He will also give you provision.”

It is believed that vision can create unlikely partnerships which can lead to amazing outcomes. Suddenly God removes all perceived obstacles by opening up pathways that could not have been imagined before. When two souls have that same vision, fate intervenes and allows them to cross paths at the perfect time.

That’s what successful business women Robin and Caroline believe happened to them. Their unlikely partnership has spanned across two continents with seemingly little effort. It’s a partnership they like to call the “Houston-Kenya Connect”.

Boykin is the owner of UENDURE Tea Co. based in Sugar Land, Texas (outside of Houston). Carolin is the CEO of her Kenyan Tea social enterprise in Kenya.  

Both are passionate about their products, acknowledging that tea is touted as the healthiest beverage in the world, and the 2nd most widely-consumed after water. Their vision is to build on their partnership and expand distribution of their healthy products globally.

UENDURE Tea Company is known for its high quality organic tea blends and eco-friendly  sustainable accessories. One of its Mission’s major priorities is community empowerment.  Boykin is a benefactor of several socially responsible non-profits and cultural arts organizations.

This Kenyan Tea Enterprise is an award-winning community of smallholder farmers and has been recognized and supported by The International Trade Centre. The Centre is a joint agency of The United Nations and World Trade Organization. 

Caroline is hailed as the employer of many women farmers.

Established in 2016, UENDURE launched with only two green teas and two sustainable accessories. Since then, Boykin has worked hard to create thirteen additional delicious organic tea blends that appeal to the masses. 

She’s also developed three additional eco-friendly accessories. She recalls, “I was looking for a rare and healthy new tea to offer my customers and was intrigued by the long list of health benefits attributed to purple tea, which is considered the ‘newest and healthiest breed of tea leaf.

I had long dreamed of sourcing some teas from Africa, but that dream seemed like a distant goal. Nevertheless, the exotic nature of purple tea with its rich color, amazing taste and exciting healthy properties was something I just had to bring to the United States and market under the UENDURE brand as soon as I could.” 

Over the span of six months Boykin continued to research the purple leaf, and every time she resumed her search for a company to source, Caroline's tea Company far away in Kenya, surfaced prominently in every search result.

“I loved that the company stood for empowering smallholder women farmers to earn a living wage and for their commitment to organic farming. I rolled the dice and sent them an introductory email late one Friday. What I did not expect was a prompt welcoming response the next morning! I was so excited that I literally cried tears of joy. My soul told me this was the beginning of something special, and I was right.” 

UENDURE is now the sole US distributor of Caroline's Organic Purple Tea and White Tea Golden Tips. Boykin says the white tea from its farm is by far the absolute best tasting she’s had. 

“Once we tasted each sample, we realized the white tea was also amazing in every way, and the leaves are so stunning!”

“Our partnership with another woman-owned tea company in the US, dubbed ‘The Houston-Kenya Connect’ is very timely,” added Caroline. 

She’s very grateful the partnership has offered her a chance to expand her business by helping her realise her objective of widening ‘source to cup’ to the benefit of the farmers.

Caroline says since the 2013 cutting edge launch,  it’s been a major player in the male-dominated Kenyan tea industry. 

By empowering the local independent smallholder tea farmers, she can provide organic tea to clients the world over through strategic partnerships. 

Kenya is among the top exporters of tea, earning the country billions in the export market. 

The industry employs millions, but for some small-scale farmers, earnings are often dire. Eldo Tea recognizes the challenge and is committed to changing that. 

All of this is happening in conjunction with consumers around the globe desperately seeking healthier products in their lives. Beyond the health consciousness, sustainable farming is playing a key role in tackling climate change. 

“As a social enterprise in agribusiness that supports farmers, my company wants to enable the economic growth of our country. We are working with over 3,000 smallholder farmers to satisfy the highest demands of the most exigent markets,” Tormoi added. 

Tea lovers can now enjoy the exotic and healthy   Organic Purple and White teas in the United States market at www.uendure.com.