Tanganda Tea
Encyclopedia
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
and coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
and one of the biggest tea producers in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. It is one of the largest food companies in Africa, and forms part of the Meikles
Meikles
Meikles is the popular name given to Meikles Hotel in central Harare, Zimbabwe, Meikles' department stores in Zimbabwe and Meikles Limited, the company which owns both the hotel, the department stores and Meikles' TM Supermarket chain and other retail outlets....
Group, a major Zimbabwean company which also owns hotels and department stores in southern Africa.
Tanganda is based in Mutare
Mutare
Mutare is the fourth largest city in Zimbabwe, with a population of around 170,000. It is the capital of Manicaland province.-History:...
(formerly Umtali) in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
(formerly Rhodesia
Rhodesia
Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
). The first tea bushes planted in Zimbabwe originated from a box of seeds smuggled out of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
in 1924 by Mrs Florence Phillips, a tea-planter’s wife from Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
, and were planted near Chipinge
Chipinge
Chipinge is a town in southeastern Zimbabwe in the province of Manicaland near the Mozambique border. The town lies in a valley in the southern Eastern Highlands. One of Zimbabwe's most famous landmarks, the Birchenough Bridge is located on the Sabi River 62 km from Chipinge...
. The success of the harvest encouraged the formation of a company, Ward and Phillips (Pty) Ltd, which owned New Year's Gift and Ratelshoek Estates near Chipinge, and which formed the nucleus of the Tanganda Tea company. The bulk of the company's tea is still grown around Chipinge, although the company now buys in substantial amounts of tea from small-scale independent growers.
Tanganda Tea is the best-selling brand of tea in Zimbabwe and central Africa. It exports bulk tea leaves to the rest of the world, and boasts that six out of every ten cups of tea drunk in Britain every day are brewed from a blend containing leaves from Tanganda’s estates.