Heart Of The Rooibos Industry

Since its establishment in 1954, Rooibos Ltd has become the single largest producer and distributor of Rooibos to the local and international markets, supplying over sixty countries around the world, with no less than six billion cups of this remarkable beverage being drunk every year.

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History of tea in the Cape

The first shipment of tea to Europe was made in 1610 by Dutch traders who imported it from China and Japan. In Holland, tea rapidly gained popularity among the affluent ladies, who held lavish tea parties long before tea became the national drink of Great Britain. In the 17th century, Dutch sea captains plying the trade route between Europe and Asia began making regular calls at Table Bay at the Cape of Good Hope, and in 1652 the VOC (Dutch East India Company) sent Commander Jan van Riebeeck to build a fort at Table Bay with the aim to provide a refreshment station for weary sailors. The Dutch settlers had brought with them the culture of tea drinking, and brewing tea was a part of their daily life. However, tea was extremely expensive and farmers soon began to augment the precious ’Camellia’ tea with leaves from local Fynbos shrubs.

Settlers in the Olifants River Valley

In 1660, the first pioneer explorers to venture into the Cederberg and Olifants River Valley were sent by Jan van Riebeeck to search for the cattle farming Khoi-khoi tribe. After following a San footpath through die Grootte Clooff (the Big Ravine, now known as Piekenierskloof) they emerged near modern day Citrusdal to find hundreds of elephants and herds of eland, as well as hippo in what later became known as the Olifants River.

As time went by, other settlers from the Cape arrived and by the 1720’s some of them had put down roots in the Olifants River Valley as cattle farmers on quitrent farms, which were allocated to them in exchange for an annual rental by the British administration.