Tea Time with David

Dear David,
Dear Dobbis

In appreciation of your support for visiting your company we write this blog in english.

--
Geschätzter Leser, wir möchten diesen Blog auf Englisch schreiben, sodass auch David den Text versteht. Er und Dobbies waren es, welche uns dieses einzigartige Erlebnis ermöglichten! Du kannst aber rechts neben dem Blog bei Translate / Uebersetzen den Text auf Deutsch übersetzen lassen (damit Du Deutsch auswählen kannst, bitte zuerst irgendeine Fremdsprache anwählen, warten und dann Deutsch auswählen) und bei Fragen sind wir ja nicht weit *ggg*.

Vielleicht denkst Du bei der nächsten Tasse Rooibos, Schwarztee oder überhaupt bei Tee an diese Bilder und geniesst den Moment ganz bewusst

Personen oder Gruppen welche sich für eine Führung interessieren können sich mit etwas Vorlaufzeit unter folgender Nummer +27 15 963 84 00 nach einer Führung erkundigen. Auch eine Uebernachtung wie hier unten beschrieben ist möglich!
--

Yesterday we drove from Bela-Bela with it's hot springs up to Sibasa because we read a little article about Tshivhase Tea Estate and thought that could be interesting. After approx. 400km we finally arrived at Sibasa and have just missed the entrance to the factory... We asked the guards at the municipality which told us to drive back towards Phiphidi Waterfalls and then continue for about 5km. Well we landed at an abandoned Tshivhase Cultural Estate which had nothing to do with our Tea. We asked again some people just to drive back and then - with no visible indications - entering a bumpy road up to a hill to find the tea estate but closed behind a gate with a huge STOP on it. We had a good laugh - 400km just for this gate?!?

Eventually we asked the guard and he let us in so we could direct our wish at the office. This is where we met Dobbis & David. One is the general manager and the other the mechanics supervisor. They told us that we are on the wrong side of the hill and that the factory has stopped producing for today, but we shall return tomorrow. They were very friendly and after a longer chat they offered us to stay at their fishing shed near the lake. In no time we arrived at a beautiful spot in the middle of the tea estate, beside the dam and agreed with David to return at 9 o'clock tomorrow morning in his office. He really wanted us to be comfortable and therefore let the guards to patrol once to check *thumbsup*

With only a shimmer of artificial light from the houses of the other shore we enjoyed a marvellous night sky. And with all the different noises, it took us quite a while to fall asleep and not to worry to much about cattles, bush babies, baboons, birds, crocodiles and so on... :) Yet we were very interested if the presentation will take place tomorrow as we are just two lonely tourists.

First impressions:

the little house at the sea

just gorgeous

vali "the monkey" inside the tent :)

a view of the "whole" place

amazing

power of nature

And indeed - David came to pick us up just before we could drive up to him. What followed were three hours of a perfect guided tour. But before we explain the process with the pictures let us give some numbers:

• The Tshivhase Tea Estate - also called Mukumbani Tea Factory or just Midi Tea is a 100% south african grown and produced black and rooibos tea
• It's situated in northern South Africa in the Limpopo province, next to Zimbabwe. The people here are called Venda and speaks an own language.
• Midi is a Venda word and means "for the people"
• Total surface for black tea = 1200ha
• The Estate is semi-private: as they give work for about 1600 people (in high season also for more than 3000) and educate them e.g. in truck driving the state supports the company during bad seasons or when running out of money.
• Even knowing that nearly everything grows in this region - Rooibos does not. It grows next to Durban and is processed here to support rural regions.
• Tshivhase Tea Estate is the only one in the world being able to do the complete chain of producing on it's own: planting, harvesting, processing, packing and shipping!
• The normal processing time from harvesting to the tea bag takes max. 24h
• Much of the tea is sold to India and Great Britain whereas the rest is only available in South Africa for the moment
• For those who read the blog about load shedding: if they cut power, the plant looses 8 tons of tea on the processing lines!
• Did you know that a growing amount of black tea is used for beauty  products like creams etc.?

The whole process in images:

01 Tea Estate and the plants

02 one bag is approx. 6kg when full - a daily load of 60kg per person is harvested

03 harvested plants upon arrival at the processing line

04 depending on humidity the plants are heated or ventilated for approximately 12h

05 ready for processing

06 loosing the leaves up and distributing on two lines

07 shredded product is now fermentated for 1.5h

08 the powder after fermentating

09 the powder gets dried and leaves on a conveyor

10 separating the fibres from the powder

11 quality separation based on the particle size

12 dust will be used in ice tea whereas the rest is further processed

13 tea bags filled but not closed yet

14 tea bags filled, closed and cut

15 product information painted on the package

16 and voilà - the finished product!

17 - soon on the road to the shelves

It was very impressive to see the whole process, all the proud workers and we are very thankful to you David, and all the people who made that happen! We are aware of the unsavory reputation from parts of south africa but believe us - you were not the first and not the last to make a big difference! You gave us a very special moment we will never forget! It was lekker :D

tea bag are equipped with laces and individually packed

preparing samples for degustation

degustation samples - differences in colors and size are visible

experts discussing the best blend ;)

david - our guide