
31 Oct 2024 The amazing ‘Red Espresso’ journey
Some twenty years on, if ever there was a start-up success story, it has to be SA’s Red Espresso that has transformed the world view of rooibos tea….
The Red Espresso story has been featured at length in a recent article published by Aljazeera. Here is a synopsis below and you can read it in full by clicking here!
In the arid Cederberg mountains of South Africa, Boltwin Tamboer meticulously harvests rooibos tea, using traditional methods passed down through generations. Beneath a cave decorated with ancient elephant and healer carvings, he deftly cuts the robust shrub, collecting the long stems as he works in sweltering 40-degree heat, harvesting between 300 to 600 kilograms daily for two months.
While some of this rooibos will be used in classic teas, a portion is destined for espresso machines, thanks to an innovative beverage trend, some twenty years in the brewing.
The San people, Tamboer’s ancestors, were the first to recognise the health benefits of this unique shrub, which thrives only in the Cederberg region, about 250 kilometers from Cape Town. In the 18th century, European settlers began cultivating rooibos, or Aspalathus linearis, expanding its availability beyond local borders.
Today, rooibos tea is a beloved staple in South African households, often served to soothe colicky infants and enjoyed with milk and sugar during community gatherings.
However, rooibos hasn’t always been viewed as a trendy beverage. This perception began to shift when Pete and Monique Ethelston embarked on a transformative journey. While traveling in Nepal and Tibet, they realised the tea’s untapped potential, discovering it could serve as a flavorful coffee alternative.
This revelation led to the creation of their company, which aimed to redefine how people experienced rooibos.

A new beginning
Pete and Monique got married “fairly late in life”, they say. Both had established successful careers – Pete as a consultant working for companies like Coca-Cola, and Monique as a brand manager at Unilever and local distilling behemoth Distell. Things veered from the script when Pete convinced his bride to join him on an extended honeymoon to Nepal and Tibet.
Awed by their surroundings, they found themselves grappling with some big life questions. “In our corporate lives, we had this nagging feeling that we weren’t doing people or the planet much good,” says Pete.
This existential crisis was answered in a Kathmandu internet cafe when Pete received an email from a long-time friend and business partner (they still own a tree nursery together), Carl Pretorius. The email told how Pretorius, jittery after his sixth coffee of the morning but still keen for more, tore apart a rooibos tea bag and put the leaves through his home espresso machine – and ended up with a tasty coffee alternative.
While Pretorius eventually moved on, the Ethelsons took the reins, leveraging their combined expertise in finance and marketing. Jeremy Sampson, a branding expert, notes that their approach mirrored large corporations’ strategies while remaining sustainable as a family business.
The journey, however, wasn’t without challenges. While consumer interest in espresso alternatives has grown, rooibos was largely overlooked two decades ago. To educate potential customers, the Ethelsons focused on sampling their product in cafes and restaurants.
Their big break came in 2006 when South African retailer Woolworths included Red Cappuccinos on its menu, leading to a fruitful partnership that has expanded over the years.
Expanding horizons

Building on the success of their initial product, Red Espresso now boasts over 100 offerings and operates in 12 countries. Employing 60 people at their head office in Paarl and providing additional income to local farmers, the company has experienced rapid growth, doubling in size every three years.
“Our strategy has always centered on taste,” Monique explains, emphasizing the importance of high-quality ingredients. They invested in premium hand-harvested rooibos and established fair-trade pricing with local farmers, fostering strong relationships built on trust.
Their commitment to community extends to the Seeds of Hope initiative, which supports small-scale farmers in the Cederberg by providing essential resources and training.
One farmer, Barend “Ghal” Ockhuis, has greatly benefited from the program. He now earns a sustainable income that allows him to support his family, thanks to the fair prices offered by Red Espresso.
Overcoming challenges
Despite their success, the Ethelsons faced various obstacles, including the logistical difficulties of operating in South Africa. Power outages and shipping delays have tested their resilience, yet they continue to thrive, achieving a remarkable annual growth rate of 30%.
Staying true to their vision, the couple emphasises maintaining control of their business, despite interest from investors. “We keep returning to the question of what we’d gain from outside funding,” Pete says. Their dedication to family extends to the company’s workforce, with many employees rising through the ranks, contributing to the firm’s low turnover rate.
The Ethelsons are also focused on sustainability, achieving gold status for responsible practices within their supply chain. Their eco-friendly factory in Paarl utilises rainwater and solar energy, reflecting their commitment to the environment.
As they consider stepping back from daily operations, the couple plans to travel more and deepen their connections with farmers and partners. With their children nearing the end of school, they look forward to finding a balance between work and family life.
Their journey has been transformative, not just for their business but also for the communities they support. Through innovation and a commitment to quality, Red Espresso is reshaping the perception of rooibos, turning it into a global phenomenon, one cup at a time.
Source: Aljazeera – click to read the full article
A bit of Red Espresso history
In 2006 when your editor, Brenda Neall, was still editor of SA Food Review magazine, Red Espresso won the annual New Product Competition, hosted by its publisher for many years, and the company’s first award of many. Here’s the report on its initial trialing by the judging panel, as I wrote:
Red Espresso
‘A great idea that takes rooibos in a completely different direction – it puts a sophisticated new spin on an old stalwart and takes it to a whole new level,’ was the unanimous and enthusiastic response from our judges to Red Espresso, a new rooibos tea product that has been specially milled for use in espresso machines.
Initially aimed at the hospitality/food service sectors, the Paarl-based company has just launched this retail version due to growing demand from the legions of café-philes who love the trendy world of espressos, lattes, frappes and cappuccinos, but want a change from these ‘heavy’, caffeine-laden beverages.
The panel sampled Red Espresso in several ways, hot and cold, and even those judges not usually partial to its taste gave the drinks a big thumbs’ up. They were equally impressed by the quality and design attention given the packaging and other marketing material.
With rooibos’ rapid evolution to a mainstream tea around the world in recent years, the panel congratulated the company for the fact that this innovation has been conceptualised and realised at home, and that it has essentially created a new category in the hot beverages sector.
One caveat is its very premium price but, as one panelist pointed out, Red Espresso is competing in the upmarket coffee sector!
Here’s my report on its winning of the competition!
Viva Red Espresso! New Product of 2006!
Red Espresso has been painting the country’s coffee shops red – and it’s the winner of Food Review’s ‘New Product of 2006’. We made our New Product Competition awards at a recent cocktail function in Cape Town.
THERE was some fierce competition in the ‘finals’ judging of the Symrise/Food Review New Product Competition, the last round of the event that pitted the ten finalists against each other. Placing equal focus on technical innovation, marketing rationale and, ultimately, taste, our judges’ top scores were awarded to Red Espresso, the new rooibos tea product that has been specially milled for use in espresso machines and which provides a caffeine-free, great-tasting, healthy alternative to coffee but has the same style, sophistication and versatility.
Café sophisticates love it and so did our panel of judges, who deemed this a great idea, beautifully branded and marketed, that puts a chic new spin on an old stalwart and takes rooibos tea to a whole new level, even creating a new category in the hot beverages sector. It also ties into two strong consumer trends: café culture and health.
The Red Espresso team is delighted with the win: ‘As a start-up, to compete against world-class, national companies with strong reputations and fantastic innovations is a true honour for us, and to win is an incredible feat,’ says Red Espresso MD, Pete Ethelston. ‘This award is recognition of our whole team and a reflection of everything it takes to launch the world’s first tea espresso – from innovation to branding, logistics to sales. By fusing two global trends, health and café culture, we have created a unique beverage category which fulfils a growing need among consumers.’
Adds Red Espresso inventor, Carl Pretorius, who will be winging his way to SIAL food expo in Paris in October, the fantastic prize offered to our winner: ‘Any great idea needs to be nurtured properly and have resources behind it to brand it well, protect it as intellectual property with patents and trademarks, and improve on it in order to make it successful. The fact that the industry sees this means we are on the right track.’
Nice to have played a small part in its history!