STiR coffee and tea magazine

44 STiR coffee and tea / Issue 3, 2022 (June / July) A head of a trip from Assam, India to Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, sometime in 1924, Florence Phillips packed a box of seeds. With her husband, Grafton and his friend Arthur Ward, they wound up their long journey in Chipinge, a wet, mountainous area east of Zimbabwe near the border with Mozambique. Grafton and Ward planted the seeds, irrigating them using water from a river, Tanganda, that flowed, and still does, through their farm, New Year's Gift. Ninety eight years on, the name of the river now identifies an iconic brand of a range of teas that not only dominates the local market but is also a force to reckon with on the world stage. "Our tea has been welcomed by the world since the first sample was sent to Kol- kata [India] and London [UK] in 1928," Henry Nemaire, managing director of Tan- ganda Tea Company told STiR coffee and tea magazine. "It is top quality tea with a long, illustrious history." As they grew their operation, the two friends established Ward and Phillips (Pty) Ltd in 1930 and cultivated 3.5 hectares of tea. The success of the venture attracted the Meikle family, a prominent local investor to put their money in the company re- named the Rhodesia Tea Estates Limited. Much later the Rhodesia Tea Estates Lim- ited changed its name again to Tanganda Tea Company. For 30 years, Tanganda was the only tea company in the country until four other private companies joined - Southdown Holdings and Eastern Highlands Plantations Ltd (EHPL) in Chipinge, Aberfoyle Plantations in Nyanga, north of Chipinge and Ariston Holdings. In the late 1960s, the parastatal Tribal Trust Land Development Corporation, renamed the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority in 1980s started tea growing and processing too, also in Nyanga. In March 1964, the first tea ever grown by African farmers in the country was delivered to EHPL which initiated an out-grower scheme involving blacks. South- down Holdings and Tanganda Tea Company were encouraged by that success so they launched their own out-grower projects. Chipinge and Nyanga lie in Zimbabwe's best farming region with rich soils, a mini- mum annual rainfall of 1,300 mm, low ambient and soil temperature, and high humid- ity. Tanganda is the largest producer, packer, and distributor of tea in the country, commanding around 50% of all local output. Zimbabwe Tea: Top Quality and a Long Illustrious History By Thulani Mpofu Zimbabwe tea commemorative stamp. Zimbabwe tea Tanganda.

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