Business Feature in Giejo Magazine Cederbos, the Rooibos Tea Company
Cederbos is a family-owned and operated company producing, processing, packaging and exporting Lemongrass, Rooibos and Buchu in the Cederberg region of South Africa.
The owners of Cederbos are Corné van der Westhuizen, South African born and raised in the Cederberg region of South Africa, and Lydia Cape-van der Westhuizen, French born and raised in Nice in the South of France.
Our (Corné & Lydia’s) journey started in Germany, where we met while studying ecology and environmental management, following our drive to participate to the development of a sustainable society within a healthy environment, respectful of ecosystems and biodiversity and allowing social and economic equity. From Germany, we studied and worked in Australia, South America and then South Africa in the fields of Ecological Restoration, Environmental Management and Renewable Energy Systems Development.
After the birth of our first son, our journey took us back to the Cederberg region of South Africa, where we felt in peace and harmony with the environment and took on a big challenge to grow organic certified and sustainable crops on a beautiful wild and undeveloped farm at the foot of the majestic Cederberg Mountain.
Sustainability rests in the heart of our farming practices, with the principle that we must meet the needs of our family, our community and our society in the present moment, without compromising the ability of future generations, including our two children, to meet their own needs.
As a small family owned and operated company, our biggest challenge was (and still is) the capital-intensive aspect of farming. We had to add value to our own raw products (i.e. first rooibos, and then buchu and lemongrass) for our business to be sustainable and to support our environmentally-friendly agricultural development practices.
In 2018, we established our boutique single origin brand for our rooibos tea products: Cederbos, with the goal to create high quality ethical products, with sustainable practices, guided by nature.
Our next biggest challenge was to be responsible for all aspects of the business from farming, to equipment mechanical maintenance, to packaging design and development, to business management and marketing. With only the two of us, and specialised background in Sciences, Ecology and Environment, we had to become jack of all trade and master of all.
And as the journey of becoming parents of our two sons, learning day by day from mistakes and joyful shared moments of love and success; we learnt to become farmers, packagers, marketing and sales managers and brand owners.
After several trials and error in the production of our tea products, we have now reached a beautiful stage where we are proud of being able to provide a healthy and environment-friendly alternative to our customers:
Our Mission and Pride are to supply high quality, single-origin and organic rooibos, packed in 100% plastic-free, eco-friendly and safe packaging material.
Our teas are single origin, meaning produced only from our own family-owned farms in the majestic Cederberg mountains, in the Western Cape Province of South Africa.
We do not use synthetic herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers, or GMOs.
We manage every step from the fields to the tea bag.
Our string and tagged tea bags are biodegradable and unbleached, and heat-sealed with eco-friendly plant-based adhesive (PLA). The tea bags are individually wrapped in plastic-free envelopes, to ensure freshness and avoid any possible contamination overtime.
Our vision is to export our products all over the world, uncover the medicinal benefits of Rooibos and other Fynbos plants, and share our love for the Cederberg and the beautiful Cape Flora Kingdom.
We are actively searching for international buyers to partner with, considering the health benefits and recent protected Geographic Indicator status awarded to rooibos and the rapid increasing demand for Rooibos and Buchu within overseas markets.
As a small family owned and operated company, we are limited in the marketing and networking capacity; but we are slowly reaching out to as many potential partners and distributors as possible in overseas’ markets.
In addition to our Cederbos brand we also offer product development and private label packaging services, as well as bulk BUCHU (Agathosma crenulata and Agathosma betulina), ROOIBOS (Aspalathus linearis), and LEMONGRASS (Cymbopogon) sales. Our herbs can be supplied in fresh or dry bulk / leaves or short cut or powder, for pharmaceutical, cosmetic or food preparation wise (mother tincture, infusions, capsules, powders, essential oil, etc).
I believe that nutrition science is a wonderful helper both for the preventive improvement of health and adjunctive therapy in treatment. My goal is to help people improve their health and well-being without torturing themselves with unnecessary dietary restrictions. I am a supporter of a healthy lifestyle – I play sports, cycle, and swim in the lake all year round. With my work, I have been featured in Vice, Country Living, Harrods magazine, Daily Telegraph, Grazia, Women's Health, and other media outlets.
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