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Our story

From the Cederberg to your espresso machine

Rooibos grows in only one place on earth. This is the journey from shrub to cup — and onto your menu.

  1. 01
    Grown

    Wild in the Cederberg

    Rooibos grows only in the Cederberg, a few hours above Cape Town. Poor soil, fierce sun, cold nights — it grows nowhere else on earth.

    Rooibos shrubs on a Cederberg slope, with the escarpment behind.
  2. 02
    Harvested

    Cut by hand

    In summer the fine needles are cut by hand, bundled and brought to the yard. For matcha, only young leaf at its brightest green is picked.

    Freshly cut rooibos, bundled into sacks at the yard.
  3. 03
    Split

    Where green and red part ways

    Here the harvest splits. Bruised and laid out in the sun, the leaf oxidises to deep red — that becomes our espresso and red matcha. What is left unoxidised and slowly dried stays green: our green matcha.

    Oxidised, deep-red rooibos in a wooden sieve.
  4. 04
    Roasted & milled

    Fine as espresso

    The red rooibos is roasted like coffee and ground to espresso fineness. The matcha leaf goes cool through the stone mill, without heat, and is sifted to a cloud-soft powder.

    Milled rooibos on a conveyor belt in the processing facility.
  5. 05
    Packed

    Ready for your bar

    Filled and sealed per blend: espresso, green and red matcha. Every kilo stays traceable back to the harvest it came from.

    Sealed bags of rooibos, stacked on a pallet in the warehouse.

The people behind it

Farmer-owned, not a trading house

Our rooibos comes from a co-operative owned by the growers themselves. More than 80 farming families work some 15,000 hectares together in the Cederberg. Because the growers are also the owners, the returns go back to the people working the land.

The processing facility runs on around 50 permanent staff, rising to 120–150 through the harvest season. Hiring is deliberately from the villages closest by, so the skills stay in the region rather than draining away from it.

The farmland is Rainforest Alliance certified, and every kilo stays traceable back to the harvest it came from.

80+
farming families
15.000
hectares of Cederberg
50
permanent staff
120–150
in season

Quality

Certified at source

Our production partner in South Africa holds the following certifications on the facility and the farmland. Documentation is available to procurement on request.

  • FSSC 22000
  • Rainforest Alliance
  • EU Organic
  • USDA Organic
  • JAS (Japan)
  • Kosher

These certifications are held by our production partner. VanKaapstad is completing its own import certification before first delivery; until then we do not sell under the organic label.

Be the first to be served.

Wholesale opens autumn 2026. Everyone on the list now gets first access, our introductory pricing and the sample pack.

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