BoS creations
Transcription
BoS creations
BOS pics courtesy of Daniel Naude BOS creations Roxanne Rolando spent some time on the rooibos farm, Klipopmekar in the Cederberg, to find out how SA’s newest rooibos ice tea, BOS, is created. ‘P have a vision of where wine comes from, but they don’t know where rooibos comes from. This is it!’ said Richard Bowsher, as we drove on to his farm, Klipopmekaar, in the sweltering Cederberg. ‘This is where it happens, BOS creations.’ eople Klipopmekaar One of my first images on the farm was the old apartheid bus in which Richard and his ex-wife lived for several months whilst building the beautiful house, now part of the landscape, where we were to spend the night. It may sound presumptuous, but being in the middle of the Cederberg, the heart of rooibos country, with one of the entrepreneurs behind BOS brands, Richard Bowsher, I knew I was about to have a completely original experience. Having established and then selling his own successful IT media company in San Francisco in his twenties, Richard made enough money to live off for the rest of his life. He bought Klipopmekaar in 2005, thinking it would be the ideal weekend getaway. At the time he didn’t even know rooibos grew in the region. ‘I had no intention to farm. There was no infrastructure at all on the land,’ he said. But after one of his hikes on the 5000ha space, he came across wild rooibos, an indigenous South African plant. Several years after his purchase, Richard met Grant Rushmere, a creative businessman from Cape Town who had been working on the BOS rooibos ice tea concept in late 2008 and, as serendipity would have it, was looking for an investor and business partner. As one stone was overturned, so too was another and they stacked perfectly in place – Klipopmekaar. ‘When I’m swimming with the current of an idea, I know it’s right. BOS felt right from the start,’ said Richard. This twist of fate shows that a great idea can sometimes come when you’re not looking for one . . . 24 Food Review – JANUARY 2011 – www.foodreview.co.za AFRICAN FOCUS Rooibos is harvested by hand in the harsh January and February heat BOS people BOS process Picture an epic South African cinematic sky with a horizon of jagged sandstone mountains and touches of the green fynbos unique to this wild South African dream, and you’re on a rooibos farm. Rooibos is harvested by hand SKETCH 3431/10 After years of working internationally on a brand called Afro, Grant has learnt a thing or two about branding Africa and a good deal about how to turn a good cup of tea into a great can of ice tea. Grant explained, ‘While developing the Afro brand I worked extensively with rooibos, blending it with all sorts of different flavours. I realised that its natural sweetness makes it the perfect carrier for fruit flavours and with its healthy, healing properties being increasingly recognised locally and internationally, the obvious choice was to start with rooibos and build the product from there.’ But Richard maintains, ‘Just because you can own a tea farm doesn’t mean you’re in the tea business. You can’t just be a farmer over night.’ Paul Schlecter, Klipopmekaar’s farm manager, is in the tea business. He has lived his whole life in the Cederberg; you can see the red dust engrained in his face. Paul knows rooibos farming, he knows the Cederberg and he knows everyone that knows anything about rooibos. ‘A competitive farmer with something new to offer,’ was Richard description of him. ‘He is involved in the value chain. Rooibos is a special product and there is a limited supply.’ Riding his appaloosa horse to the neighbouring farms on a daily basis, Paul talks to the farmers about the ups and downs of the industry, gives words of warning about the leopards that are about or chats about the imminent rains or the drop in rooibos prices – information passed between farmers with the ‘brei-klank’ dialect typical of the Afrikaans speakers from here. Paul has seen it all and, despite the current low selling price of rooibos, he could never leave or stop farming rooibos. He told me, ‘Rooibos does not need rain to flourish. This is a misconception. It will grow; it will always grow here.’ ‘Smart, hardworking, brave, creative and passionate,’ said Richard about Marie van Niekerk, BOS head of marketing. And, like most BOS features, the marketing strategy is way out there. Taking one of two approaches, either creative intervention (a ‘BOS experience’) or legacy marketing, such as planting a tree for every 2000 cans of BOS produced, the marketing strategy aims at imbuing the BOS culture, rather than just selling a product. ß0!#+!').'ßß02/#%33).'ßß02).4).'ßß0,!34)#3 25-27 OCTOBER 2011 THE CAPE TOWN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION CENTRE CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA 4(%ß0!#+!').'ß&//$ß02/#%33).'ßß 02).4).'ß0,!34)#3ßß,!"%,,).'ß%8()")4)/. www.propakcape.co.za PRO-LABEL CAPE 2011 Specialised Exhibitions (Pty) Ltd PO Box 82196, Southdale, 2135, South Africa 4ELs&AX Email: [email protected] Brought to you by AFRICAN FOCUS The harvested rooibos is sorted and then lead into cutting machine where it is cut to size – long, medium or short The process that goes into growing the plant for rooibos tea is not well known. Rooibos is sown and harvested by hand. Cornelia Schlechter, the farm manager’s wife, said over a glass of wine and a beetroot salad that I’d rustled up from the veggies growing on the farm that rooibos is a robust little bush farmed under extremities. ‘It is harvested in January and February, the hottest and driest times in the Cederberg, and then planted again in July, the wettest and coldest season.’ In February last year, lightning struck and hectares of Klipopmekaar went up in flames. Four days and nights of no rest and with the help of everyone from neighbouring farms and every fire fighter from the area, the fire was eventually bought under control. However, all was not lost because, Richard learnt, fynbos is adapted to fire and will only germinate if the seed has been cracked open by fire or other means. Having said this, however, farming the herb carefully is very important. Richard is a member of the SA Rooibos council, The tea court where the Rooibos is dried, a concrete slab exposed to the South African sun 26 a highly regarded member, one might add, and advocates Right Rooibos approaches in every farming method used. All rooibos grown on Klipopmekaar and all products produced organically are certified by Ecocert, an independent certification service. If all the farmers worked together it would be possible to farm all rooibos organically, believes farm manager Paul. After harvesting, the rooibos is cut. Short-cut rooibos is used for products like red espresso for which Klipopmeakkar is a supplier, medium-cut rooibos is used for tea bags and long-cut rooibos is usually sold as loose tea. ‘The shorter the rooibos, like ground coffee, the greater the surface area,’ explained Richard. Once cut, the herb is piled into the middle of what is called the tea court, a big slab of grey concrete juxtaposed with the cloudless blue sky of the Cederberg. Standing in the middle at midday, the sun beats down. Piled in the middle of the court, the tea is sprayed with water and left to ferment for 12 hours overnight – pretty much exactly what has been done for hundreds of years, Richard told us as we drove past an old tea court on the farm, possibly from the 1950s. The next day, as the sun comes up, the fermented tea is spread over the tea court with brooms and left to dry under the South African sun, turning the familiar ochre colour and developing the sweet bush taste associated with red bush tea. Once dried the rooibos tea is packed. ‘We have some of the best equipment available,’ Richard assured us, though while looking new and shiny, it looked very rudimentary. The tea is ‘swept’ up and ‘sprayed’ into 10kg sacks. Rooibos tea lasts up to ten years if stored in a cool dark place; it does not lose any of its flavour or appeal. The farm currently produces up to 60 tons a year and, at its full capacity, 80 - 100 tons which, it is hoped, will be achieved by the end of 2011. Klipopmekaar is the supplier of organic rooibos tea for many brands of tea products. Food Review – JANUARY 2011 – www.foodreview.co.za AFRICAN FOCUS Drink BOS The tea grown and harvested on Klipopmekaar is used in the production of BOS. I asked Grant, why ice tea? ‘Because it’s a drink that hasn’t been harnessed anywhere near its full potential. An ice tea could provide it all – entertainment, refreshment, health and a conscience.’ The organic rooibos is blended with natural fruit flavours and ancient medicinal ingredients to present the range of peach, lemon and apple flavoured beverages. Dandelion, ginkgo biloba, panax ginseng, gotu kola and guarana are only a few of the healing ingredients in the BOS Energy and BOS Slim products comprising the BOS Utility range. The packaging, designed with symbols from African mythology, the lion and Sirius, brightest star in the night sky, are set against a backdrop of bold colours reflecting the flavours and functions of the range. BOS future Grant had the brand concept and secret recipe, Richard had the farm and international entrepreneurial experience and they both had the vision: to take BOS from seed to sale point. ‘What can be achieved when you put care into every aspect of a product – from the harnessing of the ingredients, to the packaging, to the promotion? This pursuit is our motivation,’ explained Grant. Paul Schlecter, Klipopmekaar’s farm manager, has lived in the Cederberg his entire life. He knows Rooibos The word BOS captures the energy and irreverence of SA. ‘It’s a little quirky, a little crazy and a little left off centre.’ BOS is not just an ice tea, it’s also an experience and a way of looking at life, as I witnessed for myself. So where to from here, I asked Richard on the drive back to Cape Town: Richard’s reply was quite tongue in cheek: ‘BOS for us is a verb, not a noun,’ he explained with a smirk. ‘I want BOS to be a verb, in say Poland for example, in years to come,’ he concluded. , AFRICAN FOCUS The history of rooibos By Marina Joubert, from The South African Rooibos Council Rooibos, better known as Aspalathus linearis, is one of several Cape Fynbos plants that have traditionally been used in South Africa to brew tea and cure ailments. The plant has made a successful transition from a wild to a cultivated crop and is one of relatively few economically important Fynbos plants to date. M ore than 300 years ago, the indigenous Khoisan tribe of the mountainous Cederberg region of South Africa’s Western Cape were the first to discover that one could brew a tasty and aromatic tea from the wild rooibos plant. They collected rooibos leaves and stems in the mountains and bunched it into hessian bags that were carried down the steep slopes on the backs of donkeys. The Khoisan developed the basic rooibos processing methods that are still in use today – first cut and bruise the rooibos leaves and stems, then ‘sweat’ or cure the tea in heaps and finally then spread it out to dry in the sun. Swedish naturalist, Carl Thunberg, reported that during his travels in Africa in 1772, he met the Khoi and observed that they used rooibos as a beverage. More than a century later, in 1904, Benjamin Ginsberg, a Russian/Jewish immigrant to South Africa, met descendants of the Khoi in the Clanwilliam region and realised the marketing potential of the tea. Ginsberg, a descendent from a long line of tea merchants in Europe, was keenly interested in this African herbal tea. He saw how the Khoi harvested the plants growing wild in the mountains during the hot summer months and how they processed the tea – they chopped the shoots using an axe, crushed them with a mallet and “sweated” (oxidised) the bruised pieces in the hollows of stone reefs, followed by sundrying. Ginsberg started buying rooibos tea from people in the Cederberg area and reselling it in other areas. He also ran a variety of his own experiments to perfect the curing or fermentation of the tea – an oxidation process that is responsible for the development of the characteristic colour and flavour of the tea. Ginsberg’s background furnished him with the necessary experience to market the new ‘mountain tea’. He was the first to use the brand name ‘Eleven O’Cloc’ tea – a brand that is still popular in South Africa today. Around 1930 a local Clanwilliam doctor and nature lover Le Fras Nortier became interested in ‘wild bush tea’ and started experimenting with rooibos. It was difficult to find rooibos seeds and Nortier asked the local people to search for seeds in the sandy soils and collect some for him. A Khoisan woman brought him a matchbox filled with seeds and later Nortier learnt her secret. The woman would follow ants that 28 were dragging rooibos seeds to their nests. She then broke open the nests to collect seeds, always leaving some for the ants to survive. Looking for a way to propagate the seeds, Nortier discovered that the seeds would only germinate if they were cracked open – imitating the effect of mountain fires. Nortier cultivated the first plants on the KIein Kliphuis farm near Clanwilliam. He learnt that the seeds should be sown in January and that the best time to transplant the tiny seedlings is just after heavy rain when more rain is due. Nortier also inspired and encouraged local farmers to start cultivating rooibos. Two more rooibos pioneers that worked with Nortier were William Riordan and Oloff Bergh, grandfather of the present chairman of Rooibos Ltd, Martin Bergh. Ginsberg’s son, Henry Charles (Chas) Ginsberg, became known as the “Rooibos King” for his contribution to domesticating rooibos and turning it into a major agricultural crop. In the early 1940s, he laid out the first dedicated largescale rooibos plantations on three farms: Die Berg, Môreson and Stillerus. He also developed new technologies for drying the tea and introduced more sophisticated cutting machinery used by the tea industry in India at that time. After World War II the commercial cultivation of rooibos started in earnest. In 1948 the ‘Clanwilliam Co-operative Tea Company’ was formed to cope with difficult market conditions, stimulate demand and to help stabilise the industry. This role of looking after the quality and marketing of rooibos was taken over by the ‘Rooibos Tea Marketing Board’ in 1954. The South African Rooibos Council, a non-profit company set up in 2005, currently looks after the interests of the industry in South Africa and abroad. The Council supports research into quality parameters and health properties of rooibos, as well as agricultural research focused on improving the crop and organic farming practices. ‘Right Rooibos’ is a SA Rooibos Council initiative to promote biodiversity conservation and environmentally sustainable rooibos farming. The first commercial green (unoxidised) rooibos was produced in 2001 to meet the global demand for a product with a higher antioxidant activity than the traditional “fermented” (or oxidised) tea. Rooibos is also used to prepare extracts and powders for a wide range of applications in the Food Review – JANUARY 2011 – www.foodreview.co.za AFRICAN FOCUS food and beverage industries – for example, iced teas, fruit juice blends and candies. An exciting rooibos innovation in the form of an espresso, the first tea espresso in the world, was introduced to coffee shops and retail outlets during 2006. In 2008 Red Espresso won the Global Food Award for technical innovation, awarded by IUFoST. The geographical distribution of rooibos Aspalathus linearis is very limited in its distribution, occurring naturally only in the western districts of the Cape Province, particularly in the Cederberg Mountains. Rooibos does not occur below 450m above sea level and flourishes only up to an altitude of about 900m. It is sensitive to frost and snow when very young, but mature plants are adapted to cold winters and hot summers. The optimum amount of rain is 380 to 635mm per year, mainly in the winter, with occasional showers in early summer and late autumn. In addition to a network of roots just below the soil surface, the plant has a long tap root that reaches as deep as 2m and helps the plant find moisture during the dry summers. Local and international reputation of rooibos Rooibos tea has become popular beyond South Africa because of its fruity, sweet taste and its caffeine-free, low-tannin, antioxidant-rich status. The interest in and popularity of rooibos constituents are supported by ongoing scientific studies that are validating traditional knowledge about the health-promotion properties of rooibos and adding new information about its safety, efficacy, quality and optimal use for human well-being. Recent human studies have illustrated the potential of rooibos and its constituents to prevent and treat heart disease, while animal studies are pointing towards the potential role that rooibos can play in preventing and controlling diabetes. More than 100 research articles related to the science and health of rooibos have been published in scientific journals over the last 25 years. Based on a significant body of rooibos research done in Japan, the product has earned the reputation of ‘long-life tea’ in that country. , To read more, go to www.rooibos.org.za. Annique Rooibos Health and Beauty T he Annique story started in 1968 when Dr Annique Theron discovered the amazing anti-allergic and soothing properties of rooibos tea. Her baby daughter, Lorinda, was very ill with colic. She couldn’t keep her food down and hardly slept. One April morning, Lorinda was crying and Dr Theron, in her haste to give her her milk, mistakenly mixed Lorinda’s milk with the rooibos tea that was brewing on the stove. After drinking the mixture, Lorinda slept peacefully for three hours, which she had never done before. A few days afterwards, Dr Annique realised that she hadn’t had as much laundry as usual and realised it was after the rooibos tea mixture she had given Lorinda. Theron went on to investigate rooibos, but there was no information about the healing properties of the tea. She placed an advertisement in the newspaper, urging other mothers with ill babies like Lorinda to contact her. She openly shared her knowledge and helped these sick babies. In 1970, Theron published her book, ‘Allergies, an amazing discovery’, on the anti-allergic qualities of the rooibos plant and founded Annique products in 1971. Her first product, a slimming product called Wonder Slim, is today Annique’s famous Lifestyle Shake. Food Review – JANUARY 2011 – www.foodreview.co.za Annique health and beauty products were the triple gold winner of the International Inventions Exhibition in Geneva in 1997 for Theron’s remarkable discovery (in 1968) of rooibos’s internal and external anti-allergic qualities and the application of her rooibos extract in skin and health care products. She was also awarded the Best Woman Inventor of the Year for the discovery of the effect of rooibos and the relief it has brought to thousands of mothers and their allergic babies. Today Annique rooibos products provide the perfect health and beauty product solutions for all skin types, even sensitive skin. The Annique range consists of more than 150 products for skin, health, body and baby care, slimming, make-up and fine fragrances, all with the South African market’s needs in mind. The company, Annique, celebrates its 40 th anniversary this year. Inspired by an amazing discovery by a concerned South African mother, it has grown to a well known, rapidly expanding multimillion Rand turnover business providing a wonderful business opportunity to all South Africans. Annique will continue to make available exceptional, cutting-edge skin care formulations and other health and beauty products. The Annique vision, ‘We create life-changing opportunities’, shows that this business is committed to influencing people’s lives positively. , 29 AFRICAN FOCUS SA researchers develop a new flavour and ‘mouthfeel’ tool for rooibos tastings From now on, drinking tea will be a sensory experience similar to wine and beer tastings, because you will be able to indulge in the subtle tannins and fine distinctions in taste and aroma of rooibos, says the SA Rooibos Council. S outh African researchers developed a new flavour and ‘mouthfeel’ tool wheel which provides approximately 27 descriptive attributes for rooibos – 20 flavour and seven taste and mouthfeel descriptors – making it a practical tool to facilitate communication among rooibos producers, processors, grading experts, marketers, flavour houses, importers and consumers. Under the leadership of Professor Elizabeth Joubert of the Agricultural Research Council, who designed the project proposal, a team including Stellenbosch University lecturer Nina Muller and masters student Ilona Koch and a number of other researchers have spent over a year compiling data through numerous experiments with rooibos tea. ‘This study was conducted to characterise and quantify the sensory attributes associated with rooibos flavour (taste and aroma) and mouthfeel to paint a more comprehensive picture of what is frequently referred to as ‘typical’ or ‘characteristic’ rooibos flavour,’ said Koch. The researchers studied 69 different rooibos samples originating from 64 different plantations in various production areas. These samples had been graded from A to D, representing the highest to the lowest tea quality respectively. A strict protocol was followed when brewing the tea – 300g of boiling, de-ionised water was poured on to 5,8g of dry tea leaves and left to infuse for five minutes. The tea was strained and stored in a stainless steel thermos flask to keep the temperature constant, and 100ml of tea was served to each taster in a white porcelain cup covered with a plastic lid to prevent evaporation and loss of volatiles. The tea cups were preheated in an oven set to 70°C, and kept in water baths with the temperature regulator set at 65°C throughout the sensory analysis session. Nine judges took part in the study, selected on availability and interest. ‘Most of them had extensive experience with descriptive analysis of a wide range of products. None of them, however, had previous experience with sensory analysis of rooibos,’ said Koch. 30 During the first training stage the panellists were exposed to a number of rooibos samples to become familiar with the product and the evaluation protocol. During 22 one-hour sessions, the 69 tea samples were analysed and compared with each other, and the panel generated aroma, taste and mouthfeel terminology. Initially, 85 aroma and 38 taste and mouthfeel descriptors were generated, but this proved too large a field of data for the efficiency necessary to produce the wheel. The number of descriptors was subsequently reduced to eight aroma descriptors and nine taste and mouthfeel descriptors. A scorecard was developed that showed each of these 17 descriptors together with a 10cm unstructured line scale ranging from ‘none’ to ‘prominent’. After training was over, the panel used the scorecard to rate the intensity of the 17 attributes for each of the 69 samples during 40 sessions spread out over eight weeks. Through the research, it was uncovered that the positive sensory characteristics such as floral, woody, honey and sweet could be separated from the negative attributes such as green plant, hay-like, dusty and sour. In light of this, the descriptors were grouped according to the positive or negative impact on the quality of the sensory experience. While the research delved into a number of experiments to deduce specific data, including the effect of steam pasteurisation, the effect of particle size and the oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) of rooibos, the flavour and mouthfeel wheel represents the attributes of unpasteurised rooibos infusions. The wheel will be updated and refined further with samples from another season during the three-year project that will run until March 2012. It is being funded by the SA Rooibos Council and the Technology and Human Resources for Industry Programme (THRIP) that aims to boost South African industry by supporting research and technology development. , Food Review – JANUARY 2011 – www.foodreview.co.za AFRICAN FOCUS Fair Cape launches Rooiboost drinking yoghurt in the fight against cancer F air Cape Dairies, manufactures of Free Range dairy products, launched their new cancer-fighting low-fat Rooiboost drinking yoghurt that offers the suggested daily six cups of rooibos tea in a single and convenient 100ml shot. Rooiboost carries the CANSA Smart Choice seal, helping consumers to identify products that are linked to cancer risk reduction. Dr Carl Albrecht, head of research at CANSA, said, ‘Our research has found that rooibos tea raised the ratio of reduced glutathione to oxidised glutathione by 100% in humans who consumed six cups a day over a period of three months. This leads to the understanding that rooibos can help to prevent cancer.’ According to Joel Serman, commercial manager at Fair Cape Dairies, the astounding new research verifies the cancerfighting properties of rooibos. Fair Cape has innovatively brought consumers a convenient way to get their daily recommended intake of rooibos. ‘Very few people find it possible to drink six cups of rooibos tea a day, but with Nurturing nature L ast year Cape Natural Tea Products (CNTP) planted 46 indigenous Num-Num (Carissa macrocarpa) trees at its Brackenfell factory to mark its commitment to biodiversity protection. Established in 1996, CNTP is a processor and marketer of indigenous herbal teas, most notably rooibos and honeybush. The tree planting marks the start of the ‘CNTP nurtures nature’ initiative and aims at raising awareness of environmental concerns amongst its staff members. Each staff member has planted his own tree and has committed himself to caring for it. ‘Many of our staff have very little concept of the environmental challenges facing mankind today, and even fewer have planted a tree of any description before’ said Dawie de Villiers, managing director of CNTP. He added that one of the core values of CNTP, as agreed by the entire staff, is caring for the environment. ‘This tree planting is the execution of that value. We will be extending this programme to include farms supplying us with raw material.’ The rooibos industry body, the SA Rooibos Council, has a biodiversity protection initiative, Right Rooibos, that focuses on establishing biodiversity-friendly farming practices amongst rooibos growers. Gerhardt Pretorius, manager of the Right Rooibos programme, said that this is the first step taken by a rooibos processor in committing to environmental issues. ‘The choice of Num-Num is apt, as this plant, like rooibos, is both indigenous and drought-resistant. It also sustains a variety of insect life and attracts fruit-eating birds,’ said Pretorius. , Food Review – JANUARY 2011 – www.foodreview.co.za 31 Rooiboost, you are getting your daily anti-oxidant boost in one go,’ said Serman. Rooibos Ltd, the preferred supplier of rooibos locally and internationally, supplies the rooibos extract for use in Fair Cape Rooiboost drinking yoghurt. Their renowned quality seal, a red steaming tea cup that also appears on the packaging, assures consumers that quality rooibos that has conformed to the most stringent processing methods was used. Using rooibos in yoghurt is not new for Fair Cape. They have identified the health qualities of rooibos and have since used it in some of their other products. Rooiboost is a natural progression from the previous launch of Fair Cape’s Free Range rooibos yoghurts that broke the Guinness World Record for the world’s largest yoghurt at just over 500L in January 2010. The attractive new Rooiboost packaging was designed by Contrast Design in Cape Town. ,