Today, Rooibos Limited is the market leader with a market share of 80% in the local market and 50 - 60% internationally. It has a contracted farmer base of over 200 farmers and it is the supplier of choice to the world’s leading brands.

Rooibos Limited recently inaugurated a new warehouse facility in which sufficient rooibos is stored to provide a full year’s reserve to cover any seasonal shortfall caused by bad weather or an unexpected surge in orders. The company has just completed a complete renovation of its processing facility, incorporating state-of-the art equipment and technology to better serve its growing list of international customers. Its in-house laboratory and research center and its contract packaging facilities are further evidence that this is a company that takes its rooibos very seriously

Rooibos Limited works closely with farmers to ensure there is sufficient crop available to fill the growing demand internationally as well as domestically.

It conducts research into rooibos cultivation techniques, processes seeds for distribution to farmers as well as developing seedlings for transplantation as well as providing technical assistance in the field to ensure the rooibos harvested by the farmer continues to improve in both quality and quantity.

"There is only limited land available for rooibos cultivation," explained Johan Brand, Rooibos Limited technical manager. "Rooibos requires very specific soil and climatic conditions to thrive. It is found only in a small area 250km north of Cape Town in the Cedarberg area and no alternative source of this unique product is available anywhere else in the world. It prefers elevated sites, 250-450 meters above sea level is ideal, and it needs well-drained sandy soil. When looking for suitable land to cultivate rooibos, farmers look for indicator plants such as a specific protea plant which needs identical conditions to thrive."

Rooibos seeds are naturally hard shelled, so they are scrubbed to score the seed covering to let water penetrate more easily and allow more efficient germination. This process was pioneered in the 1930’s by a nature-loving medical doctor, Dr. Nortier, who embarked on serious research into the cultivation of rooibos. He discovered that scoring the seed hull allowed for better germination. He discovered that between 20%-30% of treated seeds germinated. Later innovations saw mechanical scoring raising the germination rate to over 90%.

Rooibos seeds are small, kidney shaped and light yellow/creamy in color: 1kg of seeds is sufficient to plant about 15ha. Farmers collect seeds, which are allowed to fall naturally to the ground below the plants, after the flowering process. Seed collection takes place between December and February every year. Rooibos plants bloom in October. Each flower produces one seed pod with one seed per pod. The seeds are caught in a fine mesh which is used to filter the material found below each bush. Collected seeds are brought to Rooibos Limited where the seed casings are scored and then returned to the farmers for planting.

Rooibos seedlings are pruned after one year, then six months later, at 18 months old, the first harvest is collected. The plants are cut 30-40cm from the ground during the first harvest, and each subsequent annual harvest the bush is cut progressively higher.

Rooibos has few natural enemies. Insects that attack it include the leaf hopper, the looper and a root borer. Field mice like to nibble on the bush, so farmers may install telegraph poles with crosspieces on them to serve as perches to attract the owls that feed on the mice in the fields. The plant likes to grow in summer, requiring 80% of its water in winter. It is important that the seeds are planted with sufficient space between plants to allow good ventilation to avoid a build-up of moisture between the stems to prevent fungal disease development in seedlings. Once transplanted, good weeding is necessary, and the plants are given sufficient space to allow adequate moisture conservation, an important factor as the annual rainfall averages around 350 millimeters. The plant, which belongs to the legume family, has a long tap root which can grow up to three meters to allow it to find water. Accordingly, stony or rocky terrain is not suitable for rooibos.

The demand for organic products is growing worldwide, and rooibos, which fixes its own nitrogen, is seemingly well-suited to organic farming techniques. Rooibos Limited, which already supplies much of the available organic rooibos, is continuing to research and develop further supplies.

"JAS, for Japan, and EU Organic certifications require different approaches and different parameters," said Brand. "Organic trials are currently underway in seed nurseries using natural inputs such as composts, beneficial microbes, biofumigation and so on. to develop suitable techniques to satisfy the differing requirements customers specify."

‘Because it also grows wild in this area, Rooibos adapts easily to cultivation," according to Brand. "It doesn’t require nitrogen because it is a member of the legume family, known for their ability to fix nitrogen in the soil."

Plants of the legume family need phosphate, but over a certain percentage it becomes toxic to the plant. "The nutritional value of the soil in a rooibos field is usually built up during the fallow cycle by fertilizing crops like oats with a balanced fertiliser, replacing and balancing minerals and micro nutrients for the next rooibos crop," Brand explained. "Rooibos grows in low rainfall areas to which it is well adapted due to its long tap root. In years of low rainfall plants will generally survive, although yields are proportionally lower."

Although inputs required per ha for rooibos are typically less than those required for other commercial crops, manual labor is required during planting and harvesting.

If the crop is to be fermented, the resulting cut product is laid out on a fermentation area in ridges to allow bruising and fermentation,. The bruising serves to activate enzymes which initiate an oxidization process on the plant’s tannins (polyphenols), a heat-generating reaction which produces the sweet, aromatic qualities required.

This process takes between 8-12 hours to complete, at which time the crop’s color and aromatic properties change. The dark brown leaves and stems are then spread thinly over the drying area to halt the reaction by reducing the moisture content from 60% to below 10%. In this state, rooibos is essentially inert and it can be stored almost indefinitely under low humidity conditions.

Once dried, the tea is collected, delivered to Rooibos Limited in the form of leaves, twigs, dust and pure tea. On arrival it is graded, and the farmer gets paid according to the different classes, uniformity of cut length, dry appearance and aroma. Samples for analysis are taken on delivery and the grade is assessed while the farmer waits. Further assessments tests are conducted, including for pesticide residues, on all incoming products. Depending on the results, which take 24 hours or so to process, the grade of a specific delivery may change. The farmer gets his grade before delivery of semi-processed tea, and all the gradings of the previous day are re-evaluated by a grading panel. Upgraded teas are reflected in increased price to farmer, downgraded are paid as agreed the previous day.

Once accepted, farm-processed tea is screened, blended, pasteurized and then packed.

Rooibos also accepts large quantities of unprocessed rooibos from suppliers, and this tea is processed in its own facility. After screening and blending, all rooibos processed at the company’s plant undergoes purification and pasteurization by special steam and drying equipment

All rooibos delivered to Rooibos Limited, whether in a natural state or fermented, is tested and graded for quality and for pesticide residues at a state-of-the art lab facility on-site.

Lots are recorded for traceability, and then stored in the storage facility. Rooibos has recently opened a new warehouse allowing it a one-year supply cushion to prevent a short-fall of supply in a low-rainfall year or in case of seasonal fluctuations in the crop.

The stacks are broken down vertically to ensure bags from as many famers’ loads as possible are included to develop a uniformly blended product.

The final process involves grading the product to ensure the various different components required, such as leaf and stalk ratio and particle size distribution conform to the specifications required for the specific grade being produced. The final, graded tea is then packed into alpal pallets (for the domestic market only) or in 450 kg bulk bags or 18 kg paper bags and palletized for shipment.

Quality control
The Quality Assurance Department of Rooibos Limited also operates a satellite quality control unit within the production facility constantly monitoring the quality of the tea being processed and bagged with regards to the particle size, wet/dry appearance of the tea and moisture content (it has to be below 10%). Continuous assessment takes place every 30 minutes during the production run to ensure that the quality remains constant for every batch. The final batch must also be approved by the quality control center, including testing with a gas chromatograph to check residual pesticide levels, which are typically well below the most stringent international requirements, and for micro-biological thresholds as prescribed by the South African Agricultural Products Standards Act.

Even smaller orders are accepted, and sophisticated flavor options can be developed to customer’s specifications.

Around 120 tons per year is processed in the spotlessly clean contract packaging facility.

"About 95% of all contract packaging is done for international customers," according to Colette Cronje, Rooibos Limited client liaison officer. "Our annual production capacity is currently running at around 9,500 tons of processed product, with a total storage capacity of around 20,000 tons, reserve stock included. We don’t store freshly harvested rooibos before it has been dried – our reserve stock is stored in the dry form for fermented and green (unfermented) rooibos."

Rooibos is available in a number of types and grades. Rooibos Limited supplies JAS organic teas to Japan, NOP to the US and EU to the EU. These markets also accept conventional rooibos as well.

Green rooibos, or natural rooibos, is collected and cut but is not fermented, only cut and dried. The resulting tea has a more astringent flavor to it, and is preferred by many consumers. In laboratory analysis, green rooibos has similar properties to rooibos but it contains more anti-oxidants and both products have anti-carcinogenic properties. It blends extremely well with citrus and ginger flavors. Green rooibos has a more grassy, astringent flavor with a very satisfying after taste in the mouth whereas (fermented) rooibos is sweeter with a very distinctive flavor, aroma and color profiles.

"Rooibos on its own in the natural state is a superb drink, but it is commonly used as a base ingredient for herbal blends as it enhances both the color and the flavor of herbal blends," explained Arend Redelinghuys, Rooibos Limited group marketing manager. "Rooibos is found in the specialty tea category as a herbal tea, in herbal blends, as flavored tea, as medicinal tea or simply as a functional food. Many consumers blend regular tea (Camelia sinensis) with rooibos. It can be drunk on its own or mixed with milk, or with lemon, honey or sugar added. Rooibos has a low astringency due to the low tannin content and also contains natural non-nutritive sweeteners. Rooibos and honeybush are some of few herbs that can be consumed with milk without curdling the milk."

"Rooibos is used in Germany either on its own or as an ingredient in herbal blends and in flavored teas," said Redelinghuys. "In some German tea shops you can find more than 70 different flavored rooibos blends, including bubble gum and chocolate. While natural rooibos remains the most popular option, flavored and blended rooibos sales overall are greater. Consumers in the Netherlands like to drink both pure rooibos and to blend it with cinnamon or liquorice."

In the US rooibos is also a popular drink in its natural (unblended) state, and is also popular as a flavored or blended drink, with spices such as cinnamon and flavors such as natural hibiscus and lemon peel.

In traditional tea markets such as the UK and Japan, rooibos is predominantly consumed on its own in its natural state, and it has become an established category on its own.

The application of rooibos extract, whether liquid or powdered, has increased significantly in the US, Europe and Asia. Products such as Lipton Red, which is a rooibos-based RTD beverage available in many counties around the world, have served to introduce rooibos to many new consumers. Some consumers may still need to make the connection, but rooibos has become an instant success with millions of tea drinkers in dozens of countries as a result. It is a matter of time before many of these graduate to becoming dedicated rooibos tea drinkers in their own right.

"In Japan and other Asian countries, rooibos-based RTD beverages have become very popular," Redelinghuys said. "However, the highest rooibos RTD consumption is the in the US."

Rooibos Limited can prepare flavored rooibos to its customers’ requirements and specifications on request in its state-of-the-art blending and flavoring facility.

As mentioned earlier, apart from its obvious hot and cold beverage applications, rooibos is an extremely versatile herb. It is found in all sorts of cosmetic and toiletry products. It is used in cooking, baking and as a meat marinade. There are several alcoholic beverages based on rooibos. Rooibos ice cream and many other exotic menu recipes have been developed and are highlighted in the rooibos recipe book, A Touch of Rooibos, that has just been launched by Rooibos Limited (see www.rooibosld.co.za for more information and how to order).

But whether or not you choose to slather it on your face, wash your hair or clean your hands with it, smear it on your bread, cook with it, flavour your ice cream with it or enjoy a few friendly cocktails made from it, if you have never drunk a cup of freshly brewed rooibos tea do yourself a favor and try it soon - and discover for yourself the magic of the red bush.