News from the farm

The latest updates, direct from the farm.

Rainforest Alliance Program

Carmién Tea (Pty)Ltd and our subcontracted processing plant, Bergendal Rooibos (Pty)Ltd are proud to be part of the Rainforest Alliance Certification Program.

This seal is your guarantee that our certified product, Rooibos, was produced using methods that support the three pillars of sustainability: social, economic, and environmental. Our quality assurance and HACCP teams are committed to incorporating this program as part of our daily work ethics and culture. Our annual Renewal Audit is due next week.

New FUSO pyramid machine

Our latest FUSO pyramid machine ex-Japan has a capacity of producing up to 80 teabags/min. Automated ultrasonic sealing and cutting ensure beautifully shaped teabags with perfect, clean-cut seals. This fully automated process requires no skilled technician to manage but is run by ladies in the factory. All it requires is a change of filter paper, adding the tea, punching in the teabag weight and pressing START. Accurate scales ensure consistent weight across all teabags with no overweight or (especially) underweight teabags.

Harvesting

We are still busy harvesting and processing tea. Despite many producers reporting yields of 30-60% less than the previous year, we are expecting a yield of about 20% below the estimated projection and our tea is looking very good.

As much as one would like to fully capitalize on the hot January-February days for harvesting it is more likely we will finish harvesting early in April. Intermittent rain showers common to this time of year can be hampering to harvesting and call for some good planning as rain and cloudy conditions prevent the tea from drying quickly and retards harvesting. The longer one ends up harvesting the more challenges there are to manage.

This is also a time when we get an early start on preparing tea fields for planting as we use a no-tilling approach to preserving soil by not using equipment or pesticides on the fields. At the same time, Rooibos seeds will soon be sown at the nursery and with winter approaching quickly we are hoping for good rains during the germination and planting season.