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 South African Secret. June 25, 2008
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South Africans are as avid tea drinkers as the inhabitants of any other country (formerly) belonging to the British Commmonwealth - today, consumption averages about 10 billion cups per year - and tea was first grown in Durban Botanical Gardens in 1850 from plants imported from London's Kew Gardens (commercial production began in 1877, with seeds from Assam). Yet, production around the major tea center of Tzaneen in the Northern Province (formerly known as North-East Transvaal) as well as in the country's other tea growing locations has had an unstable history; staggering badly in the mid-twentieth century and although revived thereafter, available only domestically during apartheid. Only after apartheid ended, South African tea farmers were able to export their products. Hence, black tea from South Africa is still a fairly well-kept secret; although roughly 40% of the country's tea is now sold on the world market and it is already among the world's top 20 tea-producing nations.
Harvested before the beginning of the winter cool, between October and April, a tea fairly well-known outside South Africa is that produced by the Ntingwe Estate located in a remote corner of the Kwazulu-Natal heartland. Established in 1987 and with over 200 permanent employees, 430 seasonal pickers as well as a program involving the cooperation of local farmers with the estate's on-site processing plant, Ntingwe is *the* single biggest employer and source of financial stability in a region otherwise plagued by record unemployment numbers (up to 60%), illiteracy and poverty. Lighter than other African (e.g. Kenyan) teas, Ntingwe tea has gained an excellent reputation in the short time since its introduction to the international market and makes for as great a breakfast tea as an afternoon refreshment or a pick-me-up throughout the day.
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