When a farmer in Kericho pours a cup of tea, there is a long chain of people whose livelihoods depend on that small act. In the first half of 2025 that chain felt a jolt. Kenya’s export earnings contracted for the first time since 2019, pulled down largely by a sharp fall in tea revenues that erased Kes 17.5 billion, or about US$135.5 million, from the country’s foreign exchange coffers.