Superfood ‘red espresso’ made from South African tea takes off globally

On a sun-parched plateau, precocious successful South Africa’s rugged Cederberg mountains, Boltwin Tamboer harvests rooibos beverage successful overmuch the aforesaid mode his forefathers would person done. Watched implicit by a cave adorned with 6,000-year-old depictions of elephants and winged medicine men, helium slices done a fistful of the hardy shrub with a deft flick of his sickle earlier stashing the metre-long (3.3 foot) stems betwixt his legs.

Working successful 40-degree heat, he’ll harvest betwixt 300-600 kg (661-1,323 lbs) of bedewed beverage each time for the adjacent 2 months. Some of this harvest volition beryllium utilized arsenic accepted tea. And, acknowledgment to the maturation of a recently imagined beverage, immoderate volition extremity up, curiously, successful espresso machines.

Tamboer’s San (also known arsenic Bushmen) ancestors were the archetypal to observe the healing properties of the yellow-flowered shrub, which grows lone successful the Cederberg successful the Western Cape, 250 km (155 miles) from Cape Town. The Europeans who arrived successful the hostile, drought-prone portion successful the 18th period cultivated rooibos, oregon Aspalathus linearis, and brought its reddish beverage to a broader market. Rooibos beverage is simply a South African staple. Every room successful the state boasts a container of the soothing brew that’s often fixed to colicky babies and drunk – with loads of beverage and sweetener – astatine religion gatherings and PTA meetings.

But rooibos has ne'er been considered an breathtaking oregon trendy beverage. Husband and woman squad Pete and Monique Ethelston decided to alteration that portion connected a life-altering trip. After learning that the humble beverage was susceptible of much extent and flavour and could adjacent beryllium utilized arsenic a java substitute, oregon a benignant of reddish “espresso”, they began a concern that would alteration the mode radical saw and experienced rooibos.

A farmhand named Gert harvests rooibos plants successful the Cederberg mountains successful South Africa [Courtesy of Red Espresso]

In the beginning

Pete and Monique got joined “fairly precocious successful life”, they say. Both had established palmy careers – Pete arsenic a advisor moving for companies similar Coca-Cola, and Monique arsenic a marque manager astatine Unilever and section distilling behemoth Distell. Things veered from the publication erstwhile Pete convinced his bride to articulation him connected an extended honeymoon to Nepal and Tibet. Awed by their surroundings, they recovered themselves grappling with immoderate large beingness questions. “In our firm lives, we had this nagging feeling that we weren’t doing radical oregon the satellite overmuch good,” says Pete.

This existential situation was answered successful a Kathmandu net cafe erstwhile Pete received an email from a long-time person and concern spouse (they inactive ain a histrion nursery together), Carl Pretorius. The email told however Pretorius, jittery aft his sixth java of the greeting but inactive keen for more, tore isolated a rooibos beverage container and enactment the leaves done his location espresso instrumentality – and ended up with a tasty java alternative.

Over the adjacent fewer weeks, by experimenting with the nonstop grind of high-quality rooibos, Pretorius was capable to nutrient thing that mimicked existent espresso – close down to the frothy “crema” connected apical – but without the caffeine. Brewing the rooibos similar espresso besides supersizes the antioxidant footwear that rooibos beverage is known for. While it whitethorn not sensation similar coffee, erstwhile topped with frothed beverage and a swirl of chromatic it has the look and consciousness of a cappuccino. “Let’s instrumentality this to market,” helium wrote.

Rooibos tea, which tin beryllium crushed to the consistency of espresso, is astatine the bosom of Red Espresso [Courtesy of Red Espresso]

Pretorius has since exited the task amicably, but from the archetypal day, Red Espresso (the sanction they settled on), has been driven by the Ethelstons.

“Their combined accomplishment sets made them cleanable for the role,” says Jeremy Sampson, a branding adept with Brand Finance Africa who has studied the Ethelsons’ concern approach. “He has the concern and logistics experience, and her selling pedigree is exceptional,” says Sampson, adding that they’ve efficaciously applied their concern fundamentals successful processing the company. “Spreading retired into antithetic products and markets, and into achromatic labelling … It’s a classical mode of doing things. It’s the Unilever exemplary applied to a household business, and it’s wholly sustainable.”

This is not to accidental that the travel has been easy. Selling immoderate merchandise is hard – but it’s adjacent trickier if radical don’t recognize what you’re selling. “These days, there’s an appetite for espresso alternatives,” says Sampson. “But I retrieve doing marketplace probe into the planetary beverage manufacture 20 years ago, and rooibos wasn’t connected anyone’s radar. And nary 1 had adjacent heard of a superfood espresso.”

The Ethelstons understood that the lone mode to person radical that they needed thing similar Red Cappuccinos successful their lives was to get them to really effort them. Instead of trying to interruption into the retail market, they started knocking connected cafe and edifice doors. Their archetypal large interruption came successful 2006 erstwhile starring South African supermarket Woolworths added Red Cappuccinos to their cafe menu. Two decades later, the narration with Woolworths has grown to see retail and achromatic labelling, with the retailer remaining an important strategical partner.

Based connected the occurrence of their signature brew, the concern has grown to see different beverages (they present person 100 merchandise lines) and markets – Red Espresso has a footprint successful 12 countries. The business, which employs 60 radical astatine its caput bureau successful Paarl, a 45-minute thrust from Cape Town, provides an income to a further 20 connected the tealands.

The concern is doubling successful size each 3 years. But the champion part, says CEO Pete Ethelston, is that “the maturation is coming crossed the board. In some section and export markets, successful some nutrient work and retail industries. And successful some our ain marque and our backstage statement enactment for different brands.”

Red Espresso founders Pete and Monique Ethelston successful the beverage lands wherever rooibos is grown [Courtesy of Red Espresso]

Putting sensation first

“Our selling strategy has ever been astir putting sensation first,” says Monique. “We’ve present managed to interruption into the wide retail marketplace … But each merchandise inactive starts with prime ingredients and superior taste.”

The mates learned aboriginal connected that high-altitude, hand-harvested rooibos tasted better, and were consenting to wage a premium for it. Once they’d settled connected their preferred suppliers, they sat down with the farmers and agreed connected a pricing operation based connected fair-trade principles. “It was each agreed astir the braai (barbecue) and sealed with a handshake,” remembers Pete. “Now, 20 years later, we’re bully friends.”

Since 2015 the Ethelsons person invested successful Seeds of Hope, a assemblage upliftment programme for small-scale farmers successful a distant country of the Cederberg. Residents of Heuningvlei – a 25-home Moravian ngo municipality astatine the extremity of a agelong ungraded roadworthy – tin lease onshore from the religion for a tiny price. “But this isn’t worthy overmuch without seedlings, tractors and money,” says Pete. By helping retired with these farming necessities, and coaching the small-scale farmers successful modern cultivation techniques, they’ve been capable to resurrect rooibos farming successful a forgotten country of the country.

Seeds of Hope workers usage donkey carts to transport the harvested rooibos plants [Courtesy of Red Espresso]

More farmers person travel connected committee each year, and Red Espresso present buys astir 40 tonnes of high-quality rooibos from 20 antithetic subsistence farmers annually – astir 20 percent of their yearly needs. The remaining 80 percent is purchased from the section husbandman who employs Boltwin Tamboer.

One of the archetypal farmers to articulation the Seeds of Hope task was Barend “Ghal” Ockhuis, who, acknowledgment to the fair-trade prices paid by Red Espresso, has managed to regenerate his horse-drawn cart with a second-hand Toyota.

Ghal has lived successful Heuningvlei each his beingness and has been farming – beans, rooibos, sheep – since helium near school. But “everything has changed,” Ghal says, “since Red Espresso started to springiness maine seedlings and plough my land.”

In speech for his 2 tonnes of tea, Ghal receives an yearly lump-sum outgo – a sum his parents and grandparents could lone person dreamed of. “I americium a businessman,” says Ockhuis. “I tin look aft a family.” And helium is not alone. For the archetypal clip successful decades, the accidental to merchantability beverage to Red Espresso astatine above-market prices is giving the younker of Heuningvlei a crushed not to determination to the metropolis for work.

One portion astatine a time

Before proving determination was a marketplace for their product, the institution invested heavy (“money we didn’t have,” says Pete) successful intelligence spot rights, securing worldwide trademarks for names similar Red Espresso and Red Cappuccino, and patents for their grind. At Monique’s insistence, they besides hired expensive, top-tier designers for their logos and branding. “We’ve ever had a large marque feel,” says Pete. “Even erstwhile we were a tiny cognition moving retired of our garage.”

Their determination to punch supra their value paid off. In 2008, Red Espresso was voted Best New Product by the Speciality Coffee Association of America. Following this, they received offers from retailers including Whole Foods – but Pete and Monique didn’t consciousness ready. At the time, they lone sold crushed tea, which they believed would person been mislaid successful the oversea of retail. “No 1 would person known what to bash with it,” laughs Monique.

So, successful 2014 they moved ahead, opening with Nespresso-compatible capsules. In 2017, they launched a scope of superfood lattes (turmeric, matcha and beetroot), and now, 7 years later, blistery cocoa and chai are besides large parts of their business.

It’s not casual for a tiny concern to interruption into wide retail, but Pete says their “point of difference” has ever been their gourmet products and innovation. They were the archetypal institution to present vegan chai and blistery cocoa powders successful South Africa, for example.

While the institution has made important efforts to beforehand its ain prospects, it has besides benefited from the planetary displacement towards wellness and wellness – expected to beryllium a $7-trillion planetary manufacture by 2025. “We utilized to person a hard clip convincing radical to effort our product,” says Monique. “But we present find consumers and cafes precise unfastened to the thought of caffeine-free drinks made from healthier ingredients.”

However, determination person been galore hurdles – not slightest the microeconomic challenges of doing concern successful South Africa. “Loadshedding”, the South African government’s word for scheduled powerfulness cuts, and shipping delays caused by crippling backlogs astatine South African ports person some proved to beryllium a large hassle and expense. All this is compounded by the “challenges facing immoderate brand: to support connected resonating, support connected being relevant, support connected evolving”, says Sampson.

The crushed reddish espresso acts successful overmuch the aforesaid mode arsenic the crushed java beans utilized for accepted espresso drinks [Courtesy of Red Espresso]

Keeping it successful the family

The steadfast has navigated these challenges to execute an awesome 30 percent maturation each twelvemonth (though, Pete grumbles, they’ll apt request caller premises soon). They’ve managed this portion remaining 100 percent family-owned – contempt beardown involvement from established beverage manufacture players and task capitalists.

“We ever beryllium and speech with imaginable investors,” reveals Pete. “But we support coming backmost to ‘what would they springiness us?’ The main happening an capitalist would bring is acceleration. But if we grew immoderate faster, thing would person to springiness … And I already don’t person a batch of hair. There’s a batch of state erstwhile it comes to staying successful power of your ain destiny.”

One crushed they’re contented to proceed independently is their built-in succession plan. While their ain children are inactive successful school, Monique’s younger siblings – Nic Reid (with the steadfast since time one) and Kirsty Reid – and Nic’s woman Joanne each clasp cardinal roles successful the business.”

There’s besides a civilization of promoting employees from the mill level into absorption roles. For example, Antonio Suse started arsenic a wide blender successful 2021 and has risen to the presumption of accumulation supervisor. “I’ve learnt skills which I tin usage anyplace successful the world,” helium says. “And I’ve received a immense fiscal boost … Now I tin bash much for my daughter.”

Suse is by nary means unique: “All of our supervisors started retired connected the floor,” says Monique, adding that the company’s highly debased unit turnover complaint (less than 5 percent annually for the past 10 years) speaks for itself.

Investing truthful overmuch successful radical is nary casual task. “Going from 30 radical to 60 radical feels similar overmuch much than doubling,” says Monique, who says she spends 80 per cent of her clip connected HR. But they wouldn’t privation it immoderate different way. “Sometimes I pinch myself erstwhile I spot these immense trucks propulsion up astatine our factory,” says Pete. “It’s got bigger than I ever imagined. But the ethos and the civilization of our concern hasn’t changed a bit.”

He’s referring to their content that concern tin payment some the satellite and people, arsenic shown by their golden presumption connected the prestigious SEDEX accreditation, for liable and ethical concern practices wrong the proviso concatenation – a designation typically achieved by overmuch larger companies.

Every twelvemonth Red Espresso plants endangered Clanwilliam cedars adjacent Heuningvlei. And their mill successful Paarl was built with the situation successful mind. Insulated gathering blocks and treble glazing trim the request for aerial conditioning. Massive tanks cod rainwater, which is utilized for flushing the toilets and scrubbing the floors, and implicit 70 per cent of their vigor needs are met by rooftop star panels.

Pete and Monique Ethelston basal with subsistence farmers and farmhands successful the rooibos fields [Courtesy of Red Espresso]

While Pete and Monique accidental they stay afloat committed to the business, they are trying to modulation distant from day-to-day operations. “We emotion travelling and we truly similar the radical we enactment with. It would beryllium large to walk much clip with cardinal accounts and the farmers, and visiting export markets,” says Monique. “Pete is champion astatine relationships, truthful helium needs to get retired there. The existent situation is uncovering the radical to marque definite everything runs smoothly backmost home.”

Pete agrees. “Spending much clip connected the roadworthy dovetails with wherever we are successful our lives. Our kids person astir finished school, truthful we’re going to beryllium empty-nesting soon. I’ve ne'er been that feline who’s dying to play play each day,” helium laughs. “Work is simply a monolithic portion of our lives and our marriage, truthful let’s find the parts we emotion to bash and get stuck successful …”

They’re already putting this mindset into action. Recently, Pete took their eldest girl connected a income travel to Germany and the mates has plans to sojourn the Middle East soon. They besides admit to wanting a week to “switch disconnected from it all” connected the beverage lands. “Outside of harvest, it is the astir magical, relaxing place.”

Sunset connected the beverage lands successful the Cederberg Mountains successful South Africa [Courtesy of Red Espresso]