Teas from our own tea estates are transported to our packing plant in Mutare, approximately 150 km from the estates. Here the teas are expertly blended and then packed into famous brands, such as Tanganda, Tips, Fresh Leaves and Stella.
Recent investment into our factory ensures that we are able to produce packaged leaf teas and teabags, tagged or tagless, that are to world standards. Beverage Division is certified to ISO9001, so that consistency of quality is assured. We have our own certified internal auditors, who carry out a minimum of four audits per year. External auditors inspect our premises at least twice a year; any corrective action needed is taken.
As a result, we are the market leaders in Zimbabwe and our packaged teas are exported to countries mainly in the southern African region but also to the UK, USA and Australia. We are very much export-oriented, so that if and when we enter a foreign market we commit to growing that market in the same way as we do with our domestic market.
We have our own brands that we market, but we also do house brands for serious organisations. Our range of different packaging options gives us a flexibility to supply brands in the format that customers may require.
Tanganda is divided into two main divisions - the Agricultural Division and the Beverage Division. The Agricultural Division consists of four tea estates - Ratelshoek, Zona, Jersey and Avontuur Tingamira, and three coffee farms - New Year's Gift, Petrunella and Chinyika near Chipinge in Zimbabwe's Eastern Highlands, with some 2 000 hectares under tea and over 400 hectares planted to coffee. Coffee was re-established as a commercial crop in 1981.Â
Tanganda coffee has become known as a premier Zimbabwe coffee. This is borne out by the fact that we have won the award for best Coffee Estate in Zimbabwe twice and runners up several times. We have also won the trophy for best quality in Zimbabwe twice.
Tanganda maintains a steady expansion programme, in the process re-investing millions of dollars annually in new developments and facilities for its people, and making significant contributions to the micro-economy of Chipinge and the Zimbabwean economy.
How It All Started
In 1930 Ratelshoek Estate was purchased and tea did even better in the higher rainfall on this estate. Tea was first exported to South Africa in 1936, and to London in 1939. In 1943 the Meikles organization become the major shareholder, and remain so today.
Coffee was first grown under this company in 1930. Today, over 2000 hectares are under tea on four different estates. Ratelshoek factory, with an annual capacity of 4000 tonnes of made tea, is the largest of the three tea factories and one of the largest in Africa, with six lines of manufacture. There are two other factories on Jersey and Zona estates. All of these estates are on the hills along the country's border with Mozambique. The fourth Tea estate is Avontuur, where 335ha of tea has been planted - all to new high-yielding, high quality clones - and construction of a new factory with Export Processing Zone status was completed in September 2000.
All planted tea is irrigated to give consistent production. The manufactured tea is a combination of the best Assam seedling tea and an increasing proportion of new quality clonal types, giving made tea with bright liquors and good shelf life. Tanganda prides itself in being a reliable producer of the full range of tea grades, consistent quality, much sought after by buyers for the South African, English and Irish markets in particular.Â
Tanganda on average produces over 56% of total Zimbabwe production of made tea, a record level of production for the country.
Of this production, over 65% is exported to South Africa, the United Kingdom and other regional markets.
