The Rooibos Company
How encounters in South Africa became a shop shaped by origin, people and South African plant worlds.
The Rooibos Company
I did not found the Rooibos Company from a finished business plan. It began with my travels to South Africa and with a rather small moment: in 2015, I bought my first Rooibos Espresso and, a little later, drank my first Red Cappuccino. Back in Germany, I prepared it myself with my espresso machine. At first, that was all there was to it – but it stayed with me.
On later trips, I deliberately looked for this Rooibos Espresso again. I quickly realised that the search did not simply lead me to the next shop, but to Clanwilliam – to the place where rooibos belongs to the landscape and to everyday life.
At the farm stall at the entrance to the town, I saw for the first time how broad the world of rooibos really is in South Africa. There were not only different teas, but also biscuits, spreads, soft drinks and skin care products with rooibos. For me, that was the moment when a single product slowly became a larger subject.
In the farm stall in Clanwilliam, I saw for the first time how broad the world of rooibos actually is in South Africa.
During later visits to farms and processing businesses, this first curiosity turned into a different kind of understanding. I saw how closely cultivation, harvest, storage, processing and the people on site belong together. And I realised how abstract rooibos often seems in Germany when this origin is not part of the picture.
When I spoke about my idea on the OUHUIS farm, it took on a real shape for the first time. It was no longer just about bringing something from South Africa to Germany. It was about making more visible where something comes from, who stands behind it and what changes when part of the processing remains in the country of origin.
That is why this shop is more to me than a product range. It is meant to show rooibos and other South African plant worlds not as anonymous goods, but in their connection with landscape, farms, businesses, uses and my own observations.
During visits to the farms, it became clearer to me how closely origin, people and work belong together there.
What can be seen in the shop today has grown out of many encounters, visits and conversations. Rooibos thus became for me not only a drink, but a way in – to people, to everyday life on the farms and to a plant world that is often visible here only in small fragments.
The Rooibos Company was founded in 2020. Since then, starting from rooibos, a shop has gradually grown that also brings together knowledge, origin and other South African plant worlds.
Rooibos was only the beginning
With each visit came new observations: drinks, uses and plants that have a natural place in South Africa, but are hardly noticed here. In this way, rooibos gradually opened up a wider view of South African plant worlds.
Some of this has now become visible in the shop – for example in Rooibos Espresso, skin care and other plant worlds. Other things are still on the way, as an idea, a note or a conversation from the last visit.
Places such as the local history museum in Clanwilliam also broadened this view. There, one can feel how closely land, work and everyday life are connected – and why rooibos does not simply come from anywhere, but from a very specific area and its history.
The bottle of African Ruby Vermouth was one of those quiet signs for me of how far rooibos reaches in South Africa beyond tea.
What can be seen here today is therefore not a finished point. It is the path so far – and at the same time an entry into farms, knowledge, worlds of use and products that become more understandable through this origin.
Where to go from here
Those who would like to continue from here can get to know the OUHUIS farm more closely, understand the rooibos plant in more detail, discover suitable products or dive into other South African plant worlds.